Life with Katie: A Yo-kai Watch AU
by BlueDragonKaiser
Summary: Story #3 of my Life with Katie series. In this story a school camping trip in Mt. Wildwood takes a turn for the mysterious as Katie reunites with an old friend only to have them give her the cold shoulder for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, sightings of an urban legend in the area stirs up everyone's emotions and causes mild panic. Is it typical Yo-kai shenanigans or something bigger?
1. Story 1: Recap and Story 2 :Chapter 1

**Recap**

 **Katie:** It's recap time!

 **Whisper:** Katie! Tell everyone what Yo-kai we met last time, whis~!

 **Katie:** Sailornyan!

 **Whisper (lying on the couch eating potato chips):** Sailornyan *crunch _*_ of the Charming tribe is *munch* very strict when it comes to manners, especially *crunch* with young girls.

 **Sailornyan** : NO EATING ON THE COUCH!

 **Whisper (talking with his mouth full):** Sorry!

 **Sailornyan:** DON'T TALK WITH YOUR MOUTH FULL!

 **Whisper (gulping down the chips in his mouth):** I apologize!

 **Sailornyan:** Sit up straight!

 **Whisper (sitting up straight):** My bad!

 **Sailornyan:** Cross your legs!

 **Whisper:** What legs!?

 **Sailornyan:** No talking back!

 **Whisper (trying to cross his ghostly tail):** Okay!

 **Sailornyan:** Ugh! Your lack of clothes is unacceptable for a butler! Put on this sailor fuku now!

 **Whisper:** But I'm not even a girl!

 **Katie:** Well better you than me I suppose.

 _There are inexplicable events occurring in this world, that are all caused by Yo-kai. You can see these Yo-kai with an object called the "Yo-kai Watch". When encountering these Yo-kai, no one knows what will happen in your life._

 **Story #2: Don't say Things like that in Public! (Featuring the Eavesdropping Yo-kai, Tattlecast!)**

 **Chapter 1**

"Zzz… whis~ zzz… whis~" snored Whisper while asleep in Katie's bed. "For the last time, I'm not a sheep." A few seconds later, his snot bubble pops as he lets out a loud yawn while stretching. "My, that was the best I'd ever slept in my afterlife!" He then notices Katie buttoning up her sweater.

"Morning sleepyhead." Greeted Katie. "I told you the bed would be more comfortable than floor."

"Indeed! I feel like a brand new Yo-kai!"

"So, you feel like you just died?" Sailornyan mockingly asked while reading a beauty magazine.

"Whis~?"

"You said you feel like a brand new Yo-kai, and the only way for that to happen is if you died recently. Ergo, the bed must not have been that comfortable if you feel that way."

"Er well… I mean… When I said "new" I meant… The bed was… Doh! You know what I meant you sassy little furball!"

"Come on you two don't fight." Katie instructed with a smile on her face showing that she secretly found their little conflict humorous and cute.

"So Katie where are you headed so early in the morning?'

"Early? It's 11:30, Whisper. You were asleep this whole time."

"Really? Wow that _is_ one comfortable bed."

"Agreed. So comfortable I was even able to ignore your snoring and constant sleep talk." Added Sailornyan. "I guess I don't have to get those earplugs I wanted via Yo-kai Mail after all."

"Yeah, plus you get used to it after a while." Affirmed Katie. "In fact, I find it kinda cute when he does that. My favorite one was when he thought someone named Jibanyan was trying to suck him up with a vacuum cleaner."

"Hmph. Well I'm glad my irregularity amuses you." Whisper said caustically with his arms folded, eyes closed, and head turned.

"Oh, lighten up Grumpy Gus. Anyway, I'm going downtown to meet with Sarah and Alex at Café Shanista."

"Café Shanista huh? I believe I've been there at least once in my dimension but I can't remember."

"Ah, Café Shanista," Sailornyan began while blushing with her eyes closed. "That is _the_ place to go for the best sweets in all of Springdale. They've got a little bit of everything there: cakes, parfaits, pies, even gourmet pancakes. Lucille would always bring me back a little of whatever she didn't finish or even just a whipped cream covered strawberry. I'd go with you, but after yesterday's incident I think I'd rather just get a little exercise by cleaning up a bit around here."

"Well I guess it's just me and you Whisper," stated Katie. "Come on, Alex is gonna be ticked if I'm late!"

"Right behind you!" Whisper said while joyfully following Katie out of her room.

Katie bolted down the stairs straight towards the front door and stopped to put on her shoes. "Mom I'm going out!"

"Have fun honey!" Her mom replied while doing the dishes. "Don't eat too many sweets before dinner!"

"Okay!"

"I see your mother is no longer inspirited by Noway." Whisper commented.

"Of course not! That was months ago and Noway became our friend. Now come on!" Katie grabbed Whisper by his "wisp" and ran out the door. As the two friends make their way downtown, Whisper looks around to see just how much this dimension's Springdale is like the one in his.

" _It's so strange,_ " he thinks to himself. " _Everything and everyone in this dimension is so identical to mine save for a few Yo-kai. In fact, I wonder if it's right to even call this another dimension or just an alternate universe? Whatever the case it shouldn't be hard adjusting until I figure out a way back to my… "dimensiverse"_ (die-men-she-verse) _as I'll call it for now."_

"So Whisper, what are you going to have at the café?" Asked Katie.

"Huh? Oh! Well I really have a taste for-"

Suddenly the two hear a familiar voice while walking by Lambert Post Office. "Heeheehee, this too good!" the voice said.

"That voice…" Katie stated.

"Could it be?" asked Whisper.


	2. Chapter 2

The two walked around to the right side of the building to find none other than Manjimutt wearing earbuds and listening to something on a tablet.

"Oh man, I love this already." The man-faced dog chuckled.

"It is! I didn't expect to see Manjimutt here too." Whisper stated with his hands on his "hips". "I wonder if he's just as miserable here as he is in my dimensiverse?"

"I don't know what that is but he usually is all sulky and depressed." Replied Katie. "After all you remember how he got that way right?"

Whisper began to sweat nervously, signaling that he didn't remember Manjimutt's backstory. "O-Of course I remember ehehe."

Before he became a Yo-kai, Manjimutt was a salaryman who was laid off from his job even after working there for 32 years. One night he got drunk and ended up walking into some wooden planks which fell on him and an innocent poodle ending both of their lives. He then reemerged as Manjimutt, a Yo-kai that can be seen even without a Yo-kai Watch who usually ends up scaring people and being mistaken for a perverted old man.

"Hey Manjimutt!" Katie called out to him. "What'cha got there?"

"Eh? Oh, hi friends." Manjimutt replied while taking the earbuds out of his ears. "It's just this new podcast I found. It's hilarious!"

"My question is how are you even able to afford a new tablet like that in the first place?" asked Whisper. "Aren't you usually flat broke?"

"Oh I still am, however I believe that this is a sign that my life is finally about to take a turn for the better."

"What do you mean?" asked Katie.

"You see, I was digging through the dumpster for my next meal when all of a sudden this cat with a pompadour walks up to me and asks if I wanted the tablet he had. Of course I said yes because who can say no to free stuff?"

"A cat with a pompadour?"

"It all makes sense now." Whisper stated.

"Yep. Manjimutt, I think you'd better turn that in to the electronics store."

"But why?" He asked. Suddenly, the man-faced dog found himself in handcuffs by two female police officers: one with red hair and the other with green hair. "Huh!? But… But…"

"This is officer Ross to Springdale 12 HQ," the redhead started. "The tablet thief has been apprehended and is currently in custody."

"Thief!? I didn't steal that tablet! A cat with a pompadour gave it to me! Honest!"

"I'm sure they did sir," the green-haired one condescendingly replied while smiling and walking Manjimutt to the police car. "You can tell us all about it down at the station after you sober up."

"No, I'm serious, Officer Betty! I'm not drunk this time! I'm telling the truth!" Manjimutt kept shouting even after Betty closed the door on him after putting him in the back of the car.

"Aww, isn't he adorable when he has his little drunken outbursts?"

"Whatever, let's just get going." Ross instructed while getting into the car. "I hate this side of town."

Betty was about to do the same until she noticed Katie and started gently tousling her hair while bending over causing her to blush. "You know a cute girl like you shouldn't hang around old perverts like that. It's good to show kindness towards your elders but not all of them have good intentions."

"He's not an old pervert, he's my friend." Katie replied in an annoyed tone. Deep down she wanted to tell Betty off for patronizing her and treating Manjimutt like a common criminal, but she didn't want to get in trouble.

" _Teehee_. Ah, to be young and innocent again~. Stay out of trouble, cutie pie." Betty then got in the car and both officers drove off with Manjimutt.

"WHY MEEEE!?" he screamed.

"Yep, this dimensiverse really is no different than mine." Whisper commented.

"I hate those two." Stated Katie. "Especially the green-haired one." Katie then started mock Betty by copying her voice and demeanor. "Girls like you shouldn't hang around old perverts like that because blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda-"

"Um Katie, aren't we going to be late to meet your friends at the café?"

Katie then ended her impression. "Oh my gosh you're right!" She then grabbed Whisper by his "wisp" and ran towards Downtown Springdale again. At the café, Sarah and Alex were waiting around for Katie to show up with Alex getting impatient.

"12:00, I told her 12:00 on the dot," Alex said, irritably while tapping her foot. "And what time is it now Sarah?"

"Uh, 12:01." Sarah replied after looking at her phone.

"Exactly! Kids today have no regard for punctuality. It's precisely why society is falling apart."

"You just wanna stuff your face with pancakes."

"Sarah, Alex!" Katie called out while running towards the café. " _Huff huff phoo._ I'm here."

"Hi, Katie!"

"You're a minute late!" Nagged Alex. "What took you?"

"Let's just say I had a little run-in with the police, _ehehe_." Katie chuckled while scratching the back of her head with her eyes closed.

"Oh is everything okay?" Sarah asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah, they were just looking for a thief who stole a tablet and wondered if I knew anything."

"Well regardless I'm fining you for not being on time." Alex decided while pointing and winking at Katie. "One stack of Royal Pancakes!"

"What!? Seriously!?"

"Let's go inside already! I'm starving!"

"Didn't you have breakfast an hour ago?" asked Sarah.

"Wow, Alex sure is a stickler for promptness, isn't she?" asked Whisper.

"Only when it benefits her." Replied Katie. "She did the same thing last time when we went to the movies and I was only 30 seconds late. I ended up buying her a chicken nugget basket combo as punishment."

"My, such expensive taste."

"Tell me about. It's so annoying"

"Well why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

"Eh, it's not really that big of a deal anyway. Though unfortunately, this means whatever you wanted will have to wait until next time."

Whisper slouched over, looking distraught. "Boo hoo…"


	3. Chapter 3

The three friends all enter the café and are immediately hit with cool wind, the smell of hazelnut coffee, and the sound of hipsters blogging on their smartphones.

"Ah, so this Café Shanista." Whisper commented while floating around. "Quite the vivacious atmosphere!"

"Whisper, we've been here before. Don't you remember?" asked Katie. "I bought you a parfait here after you were crying about not being able to use the Model Zero Watch."

"Oh yeah. That story…"

"Still I don't blame you for being impressed. Coming here is always a pleasant experience."

"Sure is!" Alex chimed in causing Katie to get startled.

"Huh!? Oh, yeah. I was definitely talking to you and no one else ehehehe."

"Well great! Let's go order!"

The friends walked up to the counter to order their treats. Alex's eyes sparkled and her mouth watered at all the desserts on display.

"One strawberry shortcake please." Ordered Sarah.

"Chocolate parfait for me," Alex ordered, wiping the drool from her mouth. "And a stack of Royal Pancakes, no cinnamon, that my friend Katie here will generously pay for."

"Yeah, 'generously.' " Katie sarcastically replied and sighed. "I suppose I'll just have a plain cheesecake slice then."

The friends received their treats and sat down with them. Sarah was savoring her strawberry shortcake while Alex wolfed down her Royal Pancakes and chocolate parfait simultaneously. Katie on the other hand ate her cheesecake with no special reaction, which made sense since it was just plain old, ordinary cheesecake. Katie was a girl who never settled for less if she could help it so not being able to get a raspberry cheesecake slice somewhat upset her, though she'd never admit it. Still she liked being with her friends and tried to make the best out of the situation.

"This is so nice," she smiled. "I mean doesn't this place just feel like heaven on earth?"

"Any place that doesn't make you feel guilty for eating dessert before dinner is heaven on earth to me." Agreed Sarah.

"And thankfully my pancakes don't have cinnamon on them, otherwise it'd be hell on earth for me." Chimed in Alex.

"Huh? You don't like cinnamon?" asked Katie.

"Don't like it? I'm allergic to the stuff! Highly allergic. It makes me break out in hives all over my butt and in-between my thighs!"

A nearby customer choked on her smoothie after hearing that. Katie stopped eating for a minute with her fork in her mouth and gave Alex a look of disapproval.

"Last time I ate cinnamon I was itching for days and whenever I scratched, I didn't wash my hands afterwards."

Hearing this made another customer do a spit take on his girlfriend.

"Alex… Why are you saying that here?" Katie asked looking completely disgusted. "And so loudly?"

"You know, I remember one time I was picking my nose when I was alone and found a booger that looked just like one of these strawberries." Revealed Sarah. "Obviously it didn't taste like a strawberry but the texture was nice nonetheless."

Even more customers started to choke on their food and drinks while Katie completely dropped her fork looking absolutely stunned by what she was hearing. Some customers started to get so disgusted that they began to leave.

"Gross."

"There goes my appetite."

"Some people just have no class."

"They're all leaving because of us." Katie said to herself while sinking in her seat.

"Hey Katie, are you really going to eat that whole piece of cheesecake?" asked Sarah "You know that stuff goes straight to your butt, right? And everyone says you have a big butt."

Katie began to blush out of anger. "Excuse me!?"

"Yeah everyone at school thinks so. If you eat like this, you're gonna be real fat by the time we start high school."

Another customer started snickering while typing on his phone.

Katie stared blankly at her friends for a few seconds wanting to get angry but then closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Ooookay. I'm gonna need to take a trip to restroom for a minute."

"Oh I understand how that feels." Acknowledged Alex. "Like this one time after I ate fried chicken and I had the ru-"

"That's nice, Alex. Buh-bye!" Katie backed away from the table as fast as she could before Alex could finish her story. She then hid behind the coffee barrel so no one could see her.

"Wow, are those really the conversations young girls have at cafés nowadays?" Whisper said, floating to Katie's side.

"Of course not, Whisper! Don't act like this is normal! Alex and Sarah would never reveal secrets like that in a public place like a café! People are leaving because of what they're saying! On top of that, I'm pretty sure Sarah wouldn't call me fat when we're all eating sweets! You know there has to be a Yo-kai behind this!"

Katie popped the Yo-kai Lens on her watch to search for a Yo-kai near Sarah and Alex. Of course, Whisper "lectured" her on blaming Yo-kai for everything, eyes closed and finger wagging.

"Katie, you're a lot more kindhearted than Nate I'll give you that, but blaming Yo-kai for everything isn't very nice. Maybe they're just comfortable about telling you these things no matter who else can hear and Sarah is just worried about your health."

"There!"

"No way!"

The Yo-kai revealed was an elderly woman with long arms wearing a face veil and traditional clothing. She also had two speakers with their jacks connected to the back of Alex and Sarah's necks as if they were cyborg-human hybrids of some sort.

"OH MY GOSH!" exclaimed Whisper. "IT'S HER! IT'S REALLY HER!"

"You know who she is?" asked Katie. "She must be a Classic Yo-kai then."

"Not even! That's the world famous Tattlecast, whis~!"

"Tattlecast? If she's so world famous then how come I've never heard of her?"

"Because she's famous only in the Yo-kai World! Her podcast entitled _The Tattlecast_ is the most popular podcast there! Jibanyan, Hidabat, and I listen to it every week when Nate's asleep! Even Yo-kai superstars like Steve Jaws and Directator listen to it!"

"Wow, if that's the case it sounds like she's quite a big deal. So that's the podcast Manjimutt was listening to!"

"Most likely, yes."

"What's her podcast about, anyway?"

"Why, humans and their dirty little secrets, whis~!"

"What?"

"Look!" Whisper pointed at Tattlecast making Alex and Sarah reveal their secrets to each other while she recorded their voices with a tape recorder. "Tattlecast has possessed your friends and is now making them reveal their deepest and grossest secrets! She does this with other humans until she has enough secrets to record an hour-long podcast every week and each one is comedy gold! Except for episode 42, that one sucked."

"That's horrible! They're called 'secrets' for a reason and she's wrong for making people reveal theirs like that, especially in a public place such as a café! Then she has the nerve to repeat them on a podcast? Only the worst kinds of people do that!"

"Wow, I didn't realize you'd have such strong feelings about this. You know only Yo-kai listen to the podcast, right?"

"But what about the people around the person who reveals their secrets? You saw how all those other people reacted when Sarah and Alex revealed theirs. This isn't right and I'm gonna call Sailornyan to put a stop to it. Surely she wouldn't approve of something so lowbrow."

"Lowbrow?" Whisper began to look a bit lugubrious knowing that his dear friend absolutely detested something he loved. He felt like Katie hated him too for finding enjoyment in something she didn't personally approve of.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Back at the Forester residence, Sailornyan had just finished watering Katie's plants.

"There that should do it." She stated, standing proudly. "Plants watered, bed sprayed, floor waxed, and incense lit. Even though I promised not to change anything without her permission, I can always make little additions here and there. Katie hardly ever messes up her room, but it could always be improved little by little."

Sailornyan was about to sit back on the bed and finish reading her magazine until she noticed Katie's closet. "Huh. I'm finished with the room, but what about the closet?" Sailornyan walked up to closet door. The whole time she was there, even when she redecorated the room without Katie's permission, she somehow never noticed it until now. "Katie didn't give me permission to go in there, but a quick peek shouldn't hurt." She slid the closet door open to find Shadow Venoct who stared back at her, with the two dragon heads that acted as a scarf around his neck suddenly snarling at her. She quickly closed the closet and after standing there for a few seconds, she ran and jumped off of Katie's balcony and ran from the house in fear of her life. "NYAAAAAA~! KATIE! THERE'S A DEMON IN YOUR CLOSET!"

As she ran she saw a summoning portal appear in the sky. "Yes! Perfect timing! That demon won't catch me now!" Sailornyan was carried in the air through the summoning portal and landed on a rainbow path. She walked down the path to the beat of an instrumental version of the Charming Tribe summoning song, taking moderate steps with her back straight, head held high, arms relaxed, and a confident smile. She did a graceful twirl as she made it to the center. Back at the café, Katie turned the Model Zero Watch's dial to 2 ending the summoning process.

"Summoning Charming." The watch announced.

Sailornyan appeared at the café panting and hunched over. " _huff huff_ Sailornyan…"

"Hey Sailornyan," greeted Katie. "Are you okay? Were you exercising or something?"

"Not exactly." Sailornyan took a deep breath in order to catch her breath. "Did you know there's a literal demon in your closet!?"

"You saw it too!?" asked Whisper. "Did it not have menacing red eyes and black serpents around its neck?"

"Yes! They almost ate me! What in God's name is that thing Katie!?"

"Um, I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." Katie replied. "The only thing in my is Shadow Venoct and he's no demon."

"It has a name!?" asked Whisper.

"You know Shadow Venoct, Whisper! The day we met him was a really scary day."

"I can imagine, whis~."

Katie sighed. "We really need to do something about that memory problem of yours. Anyway, Sailornyan you need to stop Tattlecast from revealing-"

"OH MY GOODNESS IT'S TATTLECAST!" shouted Sailornyan. "I can't believe she's here!"

"What? Don't tell me you listen to her podcast too!"

"Everyone who's anyone listens to her podcast!"

"That's what I said!" Whisper happily chimed in.

"Oh brother." Katie facepalmed. She then got a great idea and her expression changed to a smug one. "You know Sailornyan, indulging in petty gossip podcasts is pretty low class."

"Nya~?" Sailornyan reacted.

"I'm just saying. Certainly a real lady would never find enjoyment in something as unrefined as the revelation of other people's secrets."

Sailornyan wagged her finger. "No no no Katie, you've got it all wrong. The _act_ of revealing other people's secrets is unrefined. _Listening_ to other people's secrets get revealed is not."

Katie's expression then changed from smug to annoyed knowing that her ruse failed.

"There's a difference between revealing someone's secrets when you're not supposed to and having a laugh at them and I'm just doing the latter."

"But what about Tattlecast!? She's revealing people's secrets when she's not supposed to! Aren't you going to chastise her like you did me for not being 'ladylike' ?"

"I would, but Tattlecast is an elderly woman, not a young impressionable girl like you. Even if I did want to chastise her it wouldn't do any good and would be disrespectful."

"She has a point you know." Whisper added.

"I guess," Katie sighed. "But that still doesn't change the fact that what Tattlecast is doing is wrong so if you won't make her stop, I'll call someone who will!" Katie pulled another medal out of her pocket. "Come on out my friend! Calling, Lie-in Heart! Yo-kai Medal, do your thing!" Katie inserted the medal into the Model Zero watch and turned the dial to 1.

"Oh! Summoning time!" the watch announced.

As an instrumental of the Brave Tribe theme played, Lie-in Heart ran down a rainbow path with his sword unsheathed, stopped and sat for a couple of seconds, then got back up and ran towards the center. Katie then turned the watch's dial to 2 causing a bright red spiral to emit from the center, ending the summoning process.

"Summoning Brave."

"Lie-in Heart!"

Lie-in Heart appeared in his trademark pose, sitting down with his arms crossed and eyes closed. "Greetings, Katie. Now was the perfect time to call me."

"Awesome, because I need your help, Lie-in Heart." Katie replied. "Tattlecast is making my friends reveal their secrets causing everyone in the café to leave. Can you stop her?"

"Tattlecast you say? How fascinating. I just finished the first episode of her podcast a moment ago."

"You're only on the first episode!?" Whisper and Sailornyan asked in unison. "What took you so long!?"

"One must wait for the perfect time and atmosphere as well as finding the right environment and making the necessary preparations. Then and only then can a podcast be enjoyed to its fullest extent."

"But just how much prep time did you need?" asked Sailornyan. "You do realize how many episodes behind you are right?" Katie pushed Sailornyan out of her way. "Nya-ha!"

"Never mind that! Does this mean you're not gonna help me either?" asked Katie.

"Hmm. This is quite the predicament. Even though I just started listening to it, I find Tattlecast's podcast to be quite humorous and I wouldn't dream of interfering with her work in any way." Replied Lie-in Heart.

Katie groaned.

"See, Katie? You're hard pressed to find anyone who'd help you with this situation." Explained Whisper. "Tattlecast is far too popular."

Lie-in Heart then quickly opened his eyes. "However! The time has not yet come for her to be gathering material for a podcast."

"Whis~!?"

"Tattlecast is an elderly woman. She must take this time to properly rest before gathering new material. Right now, it is 12:30 in the afternoon meaning she should be taking an afternoon nap followed by dinner at 5. Because of her age she most likely wakes up at approximately 4 in the morning, meaning she'll need to be asleep by 9 to get the maximum recommended hours of rest. Doing anything else right now could throw her off of a preferred sleep schedule, causing her mind to become too stressed to be able to record a podcast and-"

"All that sounds great Lie-in Heart, but could you please just possess her already before my friends reveal something they'll really regret?" Katie interrupted.

"But of course." Lie-in Heart began to walk over towards Alex and Sarah to inspirit Tattlecast.

"This is bad! If Lie-in Heart inspirits Tattlecast then who knows how long it'll be before the next podcast!" Worried Whisper. "Days, months, years, decades, centuries, millenniums," -his voice cracked- "Eoooons! I can't stand the thought of waiting that long, whis~!"

"Just think of all the followers she's bound to lose just after the first week of inactivity!" fretted Sailornyan. "Katie, how could you do this!?"

"I already told you, because this is wrong." She sternly replied. "How would you like it if someone made you reveal your most embarrassing secrets in public and then repeated them on a podcast you didn't know about?"

"But that's the thing! Humans don't know about the podcast!" argued Whisper. "Haven't you heard of the phrase 'what you don't know won't hurt you' ?"

"Whisper, what about all the people who heard what Alex and Sarah said and left the cafe because of them? They're probably gonna gossip to all their friends about them."

"But what does it matter? We're probably never gonna see them again, whis~!"

"I wouldn't be so sure," bet Sailornyan. "Café Shanista is quite a popular place and some of those people have to be regular customers. And now that I think about it, it's the last place you'd want to reveal a gross secret in unless you wanted to be labeled for life. Oh dear. Those poor girls."

"See? It does matter." Affirmed Katie. "Alex and Sarah's reputations are forever ruined here now. And who knows who else's lives Tattlecast could potentially ruin if she isn't stopped."

"But… I…" Whisper began to feel even worse than before. He was sure Katie hated him now for defending something she thought was wrong. It was one thing to disappoint Nate, but disappointing Katie was something he would never dream of, even if he can't remember being with her as long as she said he has. Katie showed him much more kindness than Nate so whenever she was disappointed with him, he took it to heart. Even so, he loved Tattlecast's podcast and hated the fact that Katie wanted to shut it down without at least giving it a chance, even if she had a good reason to. He hadn't felt this conflicted in a long time.

Meanwhile, Lie-in Heart made his way over to Tattlecast who noticed him staring down at her. "Tell tell? (Uh, can I help you?)" she asked.

"Tattlecast, I've only recently started listening to your podcast and I find it hilarious," started Lie-in Heart. "However, in order to maintain the quality of it you must take the necessary precautions to ensure that you're mentally prepared before starting your next episode. The time has not yet come for finding new material, for now you must rest and clear your mind of any distractions."

Lie-in Heart then inspirited Tattlecast by pushing his arm forward and releasing a purple aura that shrouded her. She then gained a serious expression and removed the speaker jacks from Alex and Sarah's necks causing them to come back to their senses. Afterward she sat in a position similar to Lie-in Heart's. "Tell tell!" (The time has not yet come.) she said. Lie-in Heart nodded in agreement.

"Yes!" Katie quietly cheered while doing a fist pump.

"Well there goes years of successful weekly podcasting down the drain." Murmured Sailornyan. "But I suppose it's for the best."

"Sure." Whisper melancholily replied looking depressed. He wasn't sure how to feel at the moment.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

With Tattlecast stopped, Katie came from behind the coffee barrel and back to her friends.

"Hey guys, I'm back." She announced.

"Back? I didn't even notice you were gone." Replied Sarah.

Katie closed her eyes and gave a nervous smile while moving her hand up and down. "Oh I just had to freshen up a bit. You know how it is."

"Speaking of gone, where is everybody?" asked Alex. "Did something happen? All I remember is that I was going to town on my pancakes and everything afterward is a blank."

"How peculiar." Katie commented, pretending to be clueless. "Maybe you just reached pancake nirvana and didn't notice everyone leave. Same with you Sarah, except with your shortcake."

Alex and Sarah gave Katie a confused look then looked at each other, shrugged, and continued eating. Due to the events from earlier, Katie had lost her appetite and just picked at her cheesecake. She was too concerned about how the customers from earlier would react if she and her friends decided to come back one day. If only there was some way to erase all of their memories so they would forget who even Alex and Sarah were. Plus, she was still pretty miffed at the fact that everyone at her school supposedly thought her butt was big, but she didn't feel like bringing it up.

"Y'know, if you're not going to eat that I can take it off your hands." Sailornyan suddenly jumped in, staring immensely at the cheesecake, completely forgetting the fact that she was supposed to be on a semi-diet today.

Katie gave Sailornyan an annoyed look. "Here." She said, pushing the plate in front of Sailornyan who started chowing down on it right away. (Following proper table manners of course.)

Later that night, Katie was all dressed in her pajamas however rather than getting ready for bed, she was busy examining her posterior to see if her classmates were right or not, much to the dismay of Sailornyan. Whisper was still sulking about his dilemma while swiping through all of The Tattlecast's past episodes while sitting on Katie's bed.

"Katie, I understand that you're concerned about your weight, truly I do, but you've been looking at your derrière for over 15 minutes now and I'm starting to get a little uncomfortable." Complained Sailornyan. "Besides don't you know the mirror adds a few pounds?"

Katie sighed. "You're right. I should get the scale instead!"

"Not really what I mean, but as long as you aren't rubbing and shaking your caboose for half an hour..."

Katie pulled her scale out from under her desk and stood on it. She stared at the rising numbers intensely, even breaking out in a small sweat. When the scale finished rising Katie couldn't believe her eyes. "This can't be right! No! No! No!"

Sailornyan rushed over to see what the scale came out to be and even she was surprised. "Oh dear."

"No this has to make a mistake! It must be because I'm wearing my pajamas! Yeah that's it!"

"I doubt it. Unlike regular clothes, pajamas shouldn't weigh you down that much. On top of that, you're barefoot so there's no way-" Sailornyan looked up at Katie to see that she was unbuttoning her shirt. "NYA~! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? STOP IT!" Sailornyan closed and buttoned Katie's shirt back up before she unbuttoned it too much.

"Hey what's the big idea!?"

"You don't just get undressed with males present! I let it slide this morning because your butler was asleep and I didn't know about that thing in your closet, but now is a different story. Honestly, do I have to start being strict with you again?"

"What? Oh, you mean Whisper and Shadow Venoct? No, it's fine they're not like _that_. Whisper and I have taken baths together at the hot springs in Blossom Heights and Shadow Venoct made a promise to always close his eyes whenever I'm changing. When Baddinyan was here, he was usually too busy eating chocobars or reading his Next HarMEOWny photobooks no even notice me undress."

Sailornyan gave Katie a look of complete disapproval while shaking her head.

"Speaking of Next HarMEOWny I can't wait to go to their concert next week in Breezy Hills with Sarah and Alex. I still can't believe we got free passes!" Katie smiled.

"Indeed. You're a very special girl, Katie." Sailornyan complimented.

Katie giggled and stuck her tongue out a bit.

"Even though I'm kind of sad Tattlecast won't air any new podcast for a long time, it was good that you stopped her when you did. Otherwise the concert would be a disaster." Sailornyan commented.

"I'm glad at least you agree." Katie glared in Whisper's direction. " _Someone_ hasn't said a word to me ever since we got home."

"Why would you want to talk to someone like me?" Whisper asked in a deep melancholic voice. "I'm a fan of The Tattlecast. That means I'm pure scum, right?"

"What? Pure scum? Who told you that?"

Whisper turned around with tears flowing from his eyes. "You did! I heard the whole conversation at Mogmog Burger!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Whisper began to recall what happened after Katie and her friends finished their desserts and left the café.

...

"See you around, Katie!" Sarah waved as she walked off.

"Laters!" Alex said while rubbing her stomach and walking off.

"Bye guys!" Katie cheerfully replied as she walked with her Yo-kai friends, one of them remaining silent throughout the walk and wondering if he was even considered a friend anymore.

"So, you couldn't get the dessert you wanted because that Alex girl made you buy her pancakes for being only a minute late? That's awful!" Sailornyan commented. She then closed her eyes and held up her index finger. "However, a lady is always punctual no matter what the occasion. Keep that in mind next time, Katie."

Katie's cheer then turned into nonchalance. "Sure. Anyway, it's not a big deal. Since I have a big butt apparently, I don't think I needed a real fancy dessert anyway."

Sailornyan looked at Katie with concern. "Honestly, why would you want to be around people who think something like that about you? I'm starting to think Tattlecast did you a favor."

"Hey it's not like they're horrible people or anything. Goodness, no. We've been friends for as long as I can remember."

"Regardless Katie, when they say or make you do something you're not comfortable with, don't be afraid to speak your mind. That's what a real lady does."

Katie sighed. "You're right. I just never feel like it's a big deal. Maybe I'll just pick up a chocobar or something from Everymart."

Sailornyan's stomach started to churn at the thought of eating something brown-colored after yesterday's incident, even if it wasn't her doing the eating. "Uh, how about an ice cream cone from Mogmog Burger instead? It's very inexpensive and has much less calories than an everyday chocobar."

"Well, alright I guess."

"I'll even buy it for you as my way of saying 'thanks' for the cheesecake. Unlike that Alex girl, I don't take advantage of my friends and always show them my appreciation."

"I don't think Alex takes advantage of me. She just… Has a weird way of saying she enjoys hanging out with me."

Sailornyan gave Katie a look of doubt. "Uh-huh, and I'm a purple dragon."

When they make it to Mogmog Burger, Katie spots a familiar face leaving the restaurant with a rather large takeout bag. "Hey isn't that… Pandanoko!?"

Sailornyan frantically looked around. "Pandanoko!? As in Next HarMEOWny's Pandanoko!? Where!? Where!?"

Katie pointed at Pandanoko who was wearing sunglasses and a red bandanna around his neck. "Over there! See?"

"Uh, that's not Pandanoko, Katie. That's just some normal individual trying to feed their family given the size of that bag. Besides, I think a star like Pandanoko would have more refined tastes than some greasy fast food hole."

"I agree." Chimed in Whisper. "Can we just get your ice cream and go home?"

Katie gave both Whisper and Sailornyan a look of disbelief. "You're kidding, right?" Paying no mind to her easily fooled friends, Katie walked over to the not-so-cleverly disguised Pandanoko. "Hey Pandy. I didn't expect to see you here."

Pandanoko jumped after realizing someone had recognized him, making him drop his bag. "Huh!? Oh, Katie? How'd you know it was me?"

"You're not exactly a master of disguise y'know."

"Maybe to you, but no one else has noticed me the whole time I've been here and I intend to keep it that way."

"Totally understandable. Wouldn't want to start a crazy fan mob after all. I see the idols have you on a food run, huh?"

"Oh no. All of this is for me."

"Really?"

"Yep! As a tsuchinoko-panda hybrid, it's important for me to be nice and plump after all, and there's no better food to help with that than hamburgers! I especially need to fatten up for next week's concert at Breezy Hills. You're going, right?"

"I would but I spent most of my allowance today on desserts."

"Psh. That's no good." Pandanoko used his tail to reach into his bandana and pulled three passes out. "Tell ya what, for helping me find my place with Next HarMEOWny, you and two lucky friends can have these free passes to the concert next week."

"Seriously!? Oh Pandy you don't have to do this."

"It's perfectly fine sweetheart. Friends look out for other friends, right? Just manage your _dinero_ a bit better next time."

"My what?"

Whisper and Sailornyan were watching Katie speak to this stranger that couldn't have been Pandanoko to them.

"Hey, you don't really think…" Sailornyan inferred.

"If it wasn't, she'd probably be back over here by now." Replied Whisper.

"He even gave her something. Let's get closer."

Whisper nodded in agreement. "Whis~."

The two naïve Yo-kai walked over to Katie to find out if it was really Pandanoko she was talking to or not.

"Excuse me," Sailornayn interrupted. "Pardon the interruption, but we were watching from afar. See we're friends of Katie's and she says that you're the famous Pandanoko from Next HarMEOWny. Is this true?"

"Ah, looks my cover's blown." Pandanoko admitted, using his tail to lift up his shades, revealing his squinty eyes.

Sailornyan held her paws over her mouth in amazement. "Omigosh. It really is you! I can't believe it!"

"I'm still not convinced." Commented Whisper. "Since when does Pandanoko wear a bandanna?" Sailornyan pushed Whisper out of the way. "Whis~!"

"Please don't mind the moronic butler, he doesn't know what he's talking about. So anyway, what brings you here?"

"Tsuchinoko and pandas have to be fat, burgers are the best food for that." Pandanoko unintentionally rhymed.

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Look guys! Pandanoko gave us free passes to Next HarMEOWny's concert next week!" smiled Katie.

"Actually, those are meant for you and two human friends. Yo-kai can attend the concerts for free as long as they don't cause any trouble." Explained Pandanoko.

"Awesome!"

"Hmm. Next week…" Pondered Sailornyan. "Ah! I remember! Tattlecast said she was going to the concert next week on her last podcast. But Katie called a Yo-kai named Lie-in Heart to delay her podcast until who knows when. She'll probably miss the whole thing."

"Well good." Frowned Pandanoko. "Katie's an even better person than I thought. I'd ought to convince the idols to take her on tour with us for that."

"What do you mean?" Katie asked. "I thought all Yo-kai were fans of The Tattlecast."

"It's true that I used to be a fan of the podcast, until I became a part of Next HarMEOWny and realized how harmful it is to other people's lives, especially idols'. Every day it seems there's always some low-life trying to get dirt on us in order to start a scandal about us not being pure. Even the smallest rumor can ruin our reputations forever and we'd have to split up. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot we can do about it, so we just have to try our best to make our fans happy all the time. Being a part of Next HarMEOWny has really opened my eyes to the reality of this industry, so I really despise people like Tattlecast who reveal the secrets of others and ruin their reputations just for a few cheap laughs.

She's an incredibly charming host and I like how active she is with her community, but I cannot continue to support what she's doing, especially now after hearing she was going to attend the concert to undoubtedly make the idols reveal their secrets. She and anyone who listens to her podcast without realizing the trouble she causes other people are pure scum."

The phrase "pure scum" echoed through Whisper's mind causing his heart to sink down into his stomach. He wanted to defend himself, but was so hurt that he couldn't find the words. His only hope was that Katie would speak in his defense, so he gazed closely at her lips, praying that she'd say what he wanted to hear. However, "I agree. People like that are scum." She replied. After hearing that, Whisper imagined himself as a samurai standing in an open field in fear of Katie who was dressed as the onna-bugeisha (female samurai) Tomoe Gozen on her horse, charging at him at full speed with her humongous blade unsheathed and stabbing him in the heart while his defenses were down.

...

"When that Pandanoko impersonator said that, you agreed with him!" Whisper sobbed. "That means you think I'm pure scum too!"

"Whisper…" Katie started, looking concerned.

"Just admit it! You hate me and I'm not fit to be your temporary butler!" Whisper flew under Katie's bed and came out wearing a brown trench coat and trilby while holding two suitcases. "I guess this is goodbye, Katie Forester. Remember to always eat your greens."

Whisper began to float towards Katie's balcony, but she grabbed him by his ghostly tail. "You're not going anywhere you big doofus because one, I _don't_ think you're pure scum and two, that wasn't the whole conversation."

...

"She and anyone who listens to her podcast without realizing the trouble she causes other people are pure scum." Said Pandanoko.

"It's true." Katie replied. "People like that are scum. Especially those who continuously hound idols like that."

As Katie and Pandanoko were talking, Sailornyan noticed Whisper lying on the ground, unconscious with X's in his eyes. She thought he fainted after finally realizing that the person they were talking to was indeed Pandanoko, so she ignored him.

"But you know, the more I think about it, I don't think she's a bad Yo-kai." Katie continued. "These past months have taught me that when Yo-kai do things like this they usually have their reasons. That doesn't excuse their actions, however." She then glared at Sailornyan which made a sweat drop appear on the back of her head.

"Uh, hey a butterfly!" Sailornyan exclaimed, pointing in the opposite direction. "I'm gonna go… Look at it and stuff." She quickly, but nervously, walked away.

"Well what reason would she have for ruining other people's lives other than to make her audience like her?" asked Pandanoko.

"Beats me, but it's not out of malice I'm sure." Katie continued. "So even though you hate the podcast now, don't give up on Tattlecast or her listeners as fellow Yo-kai just yet. They're all probably just ignorant if nothing else."

Pandanoko's frown turned into a smile. "You've got real a pure heart Katie. Don't ever lose it. Well gotta go before the burgers get cold! Reheated fast food is the worst. See you next week!"

"Bye, Pandy!"

...

"Oh… So that's it." Whisper said dropping his briefcases with a tiny sweat drop on the corner of his head, as his "going away" clothes suddenly vanished. "Whoopsie." He was then met with a big hug from Katie.

"Whisper, I could never hate you for something as stupid as liking something I don't like. I just want you to understand _why_ I don't like it. You're admittedly not the best butler a girl could ask for, but you're the greatest friend _anyone_ could have. Don't ever forget that."

Tears started to quickly flow from Whisper's eyes, only this time they were tears of joy instead of sadness. No one in his entire existence has ever shown him that much kindness to his knowledge. "Th-thank you, Katie!" he bawled. "I promise I'll do my best to never disappoint you, whis~!"

"Don't make promises your brain can't keep now." Sailornyan murmured.

"Tell you what, let's listen to the latest episode of The Tattlecast together and you can show me what's so great about it to you." Suggested Katie. "I promise I'll keep an open mind."

"Excellent!" exclaimed Whisper. "I'll pull it up on the Yo-kai Pad right away, whis~!" Whisper opened up one of his briefcases to take the Yo-kai Pad out and quickly opened its podcast app to find the latest episode of The Tattlecast.

"If only he were this enthusiastic about studying for his quizzes." Katie smiled to herself.


	7. Chapter 7

The three friends sat on Katie's bed while Whisper pulled up the latest episode of The Tattlecast on his Yo-kai Pad.

"Ah, here it is!" Whisper exclaimed. "Play, whis~!"

The Tattlecast's intro is fittingly an instrumental of the Mysterious Tribe as Tattlecast herself was from that Tribe.

"Tell tell! (Good evening, my loyal listeners!) Tell tell! (Boy, do I have a show for you tonight!)"

"I don't get it, she's just saying 'tell tell' over and over." Katie complained.

"Because that's all she can say." Explained Whisper. "Don't worry I'll translate for you. All Yo-kai are well versed in the language of Tellanese."

"That's seriously what it's called?"

"Tell tell. (Before we get into today's show let's talk about some of the rumors floating around in the world of Yo-kai.) Tell tell. (So I've heard through the grapevine that Sergeant Burly is aiming for a promotion, so he's looking to build a team called Yo-kai Watch Blasters to fight the Oni Brothers who patrol the streets of Springdale every night.) Tell tell! (If it's true, I'd hate to be one of the poor souls who gets stuck with that job because I hear if you get hurt, your only form of health insurance is Burly himself, wearing a nurse's uniform!)"

Whisper and Sailornyan laughed after hearing that quip. Even Katie let out a small chuckle.

"Just as funny a second time!" Whisper laughed.

Katie's smile then turned into a look of concern. "Wait, 'Oni Brothers who patrol the streets of Springdale every night?' You mean to tell me there are more giant Oni like Gargaros!?"

"Thankfully, only two more." Sailornyan replied. "A blue one named Ogralus and a black one named Orcanos. If Ogralus doesn't drown you with his water magic, Orcanos will put the hurt on you and drain your very essence. You'll be walking around like a limp zombie for days. They only show up for the worst kinds of kids though, so I don't think you have anything to worry about."

Katie curled up in a fetal position. "Yikes. I've only ever seen Gargaros because I was late getting home one night from bug catching in Mt. Wildwood. His brothers sound even more terrifying. I hope Sergeant Burly succeeds in building that team to knock them all down a peg."

Sailornyan nodded in agreement. "The brothers have good intentions when punishing naughty kids, but they are a bit of a nuisance sometimes. I can't believe your butler has never told you about the other two!"  
Katie glared at Whisper "Probably because most of the time he's too busy using that Yo-kai Pad for things like this rather than studying like he's supposed to."

"Hey, do you two mind?" Whisper asked, sounding annoyed. "It's hard to translate when more than one person is talking."

"Tell tell? (Is Herbiboy really as uninterested in women as he claims to be?) Tell tell. (A few nos- I mean _observant_ listeners have written in saying that he's been eyeing a certain noblewoman these past few days.) Tell tell? (Is this just slight curiosity about the opposite sex or is he finally willing to trade the mint leaf for a belle of the ball?) Tell tell! (We'll just have to wait and see!)"

"Why doesn't she just possess him and make him say whether or not he's in love?" Katie asked, sarcastically. "It wouldn't be above her standards I'm sure."

"Since day one, Tattlecast made a promise to never reveal the secrets of any fellow Yo-kai." Sailornyan replied. "And she's kept that promise to this day."

Katie rolled her eyes. "Figures."

"Tell tell. (Directator or as he calls himself, 'The Genius Yo-kai Movie Director', is rumored to be setting up a casting call for his newest film, _Yo-kai Wizard of Oz_ in the next few weeks.) Tell tell! (He touts the film as his greatest masterpiece and says anyone who doesn't see it when it releases is dumber than Dummkap, which is ironic because even Dummkap is smart enough to avoid dog crap when he sees it on the sidewalk!)"

All three friends laugh together after hearing that remark.

"Okay, that was funny." Admitted Katie.

"Yes, Tattlecast is one of Directator's harshest critics." Sailornyan replied. "She's aware that he's an avid listener, but still won't hold back when criticizing his movies."

"Good, because experience has taught me that that guy can't come up with an original idea for the life of him and it's ridiculous how much the masses eat his garbage up."

"Well I quite enjoy his productions regardless. _My Neighbor Dromp_ is still one of my favorite films to this day."

"As long as he leaves me out of his silly mockbusters, I don't care what he does."

"Nya~? What do you mean?"

"Shh! Still trying to translate here!" nagged Whisper.

"Tell tell. (Everyone's favorite big brother figure, Bruff, is apparently considering opening up his own underground dojo soon.) Tell tell! (Don't tell Detective Holdit though!) Tell tell! (Otherwise, he might want to join and Brother Bruff will get demoted to Little Brother Bruff!)"

Whisper and Sailornyan laughed, but the joke went over Katie's head. "Little Brother Bruff? I don't get it."

"I'll explain it to you after the episode ends." Giggled Sailornyan.

"So this is fine and all, but how long before the actual show starts? Feels like she's just buying time to make it longer."

"Oh? Getting curious about the secrets of others I see." Teased Whisper.

Katie blushed with an angry expression. "No that's not it at all! It's just that we're almost five minutes in and all she's talked about are rumors."

Whisper chuckled. "Well this is what's known in the podcast industry as 'persiflage.'"

"Percy-what?"

"Per-si-fla-ge. It's light mockery and banter most podcasters do during the first half of the show, though it's more common when more than one person is present. It's to help get the hosts' juices flowing and loosen up their vocal cords so the rest of the podcast will go smoothly."

"Oh. Well how long does it usually last?"

"Usually about 20 to 30 minutes most of the time. The podcast as a whole is about an hour and 40 minutes long."

"I see. Well I have a feeling this is the part of the show I'm going to enjoy the most so I don't really mind."

As the first half of the podcast went on, Katie found herself actually enjoying it. None of it felt mean-spirited or condescending. It was all in good taste and she liked hearing about what was going on in the lives of different Yo-kai.

"Tell tell? (I mean I'm just saying, if you're made of gold and take great pride in that, who are you going to buy a poster of?) Tell tell? (Yourself or someone made of platinum?) Tell tell! (I'm telling you, there's envy flowing through those circuits of hers and she's too much of pussycat to admit it!)"

"Of course I knew it all along." Whisper boasted.

"Tell tell! (Now on with the show!) Tell tell. (Today I took a trip down Flower Road in Shopper's Row because I was hungry, for secrets that is.) Tell tell. (I decided to stop by Sun Pavilion to see what the chef had cooking besides the afternoon lunch special.) Tell tell. (It all seemed pretty normal, too normal.) Tell tell. (So I decided to possess the head chef to see if he had any secrets that were as juicy as his steamed gyoza.) Tell tell! (Here's what he had to say!)"

Katie sighed. "Here comes the part I was dreading."

"Attention everyone! In order to cut back costs, we've been using imitation crab in the crab omelette for the past three weeks! Also, we've been having a slight problem with gnats in the kitchen, so don't be surprised if you find a few in your mapo tofu! They're quite attracted to the stuff!"

"Gnats? Ugh, maybe that's why Stephen got food poisoning last week!" Katie chimed in.

"Is that a friend of yours?" asked Sailornyan.

"Not exactly. He's our class president. He wasn't at school for two days last week due to food poisoning after he and his family ate at Sun Pavilion."

"Well now no one's eating there I'm sure." Whisper laughed. "Just wait until you hear this!"

"Tell tell! (Uh oh!) Tell tell. (Sounds like some customers aren't taking this revelation too well.")

"That's disgusting!"

"I'm never eating here again!"

"Someone's getting a bad Yolp review today."

"Imitation crab is the worst!"

"Tell tell? (Do you have anything to say in your defense Mr. Chef?)"

"Bah! You're all a bunch of wusses! I've eaten at least 30 flies in my meals for the past week and you don't see me complaining!"

"Tell tell. (Yeah, with a gut that big I don't imagine you're much of a picky eater.)

Whisper and Sailornyan laughed while Katie folded her arms and frowned at that remark. "See, now that's just mean."

"But don't you think he deserved it for cheating and lying to his customers like that?" asked Sailornyan.

"I'll admit that was wrong of him, but that's no reason to insult his weight. Besides, Sun Pavilion is usually a great Chinese Restaurant. You know a Yo-kai has to be involved with this."

"Oh come on Katie, you can't blame Yo-kai for everything." Denied Whisper. "Listen to what happened next!"

"Tell tell. (After whetting my appetite, I thought I'd settle down with a good book from the Settle In Bookstore.) Tell tell. (You can tell a lot about a person by the kinds of printed material they read.) Tell tell. (Like this balding man with the stack of travel guides, clearly he's going through a midlife crisis and trying to visit as many places as possible before he ends up in a raisin ranch.)"

"Or he just likes to travel. That could be it." Countered Katie.

"Yeah, but that's not as funny." Sniggered Whisper.

"You call it funny, I call it rude."

"Hmph. To-may-to, to-mah-to."

"Tell tell. (However, the only person who wasn't reading was the shopkeep himself.) Tell tell. (A rather strapping young man who's probably read more than his fair share of sexy Next HarMEOWny gravure magazines.)"

Sailornyan's ears stood straight up and she opened her eyes wide while sweating a little after hearing that. "Uh, butler maybe you should skip ahead. I don't think what she's about to reveal is appropriate for Katie."

"It's fine, I've heard enough anyway." Informed Katie.

"But Katie," started Whisper. "We're only three minutes into the actual show. I thought you said you would keep an open mind."

"I did keep an open mind Whisper, and I'm just not enjoying what I hear. Sure, the rumors about the Yo-kai were all in good fun, but everything afterward is just plain mean to me. Again, I don't hate any of you for liking it, but it's not for me and I hope Lie-in Heart keeps her delayed forever." Katie got out of her bed and stretched. "I'm going downstairs to watch TV. Call me when it's over." When she left the room Whisper and Sailornyan looked at each other with concerned expressions. Then they started laughing after Tattlecast made another joke.

"Geez, those guys are impossible." Katie complained after she closed the door. "I wonder if Professor Vacant is on tonight?" As she walked down the stairs, she heard someone rummaging through the refrigerator. Thinking it could be her dad, she didn't pay much attention. "Dad I'm gonna watch some TV." She plopped down on the couch out of frustration and turned on the TV. To her surprise, an episode of Professor Vacant was playing, putting a smile on her face. "Awesome! Episode 26! This one's my favorite!"

"Mine too." A familiar next to her voice said.

It didn't sound like her father so already she felt nervous to look to see who it was. She turned her head slowly to see Lie-in Heart sitting next to her, eating cold gyoza, causing her to scream.


	8. Chapter 8

Katie stared at her uninvited, five-tailed houseguest for a few seconds before saying anything while he ate her family's leftover gyoza with his own chopsticks and dish.

"Do you have any gyoza sauce?" he asked.

"Lie-in Heart, what are you doing in my house!?" Katie angrily asked. "You're supposed to be delaying Tattlecast!"

Lie-in Heart started talking with his mouth full. "Rest assured, all is going according to plan. Tattlecast is sleeping now and she should be waking up in exactly six hours. From there we will carry on with the original plan and she should be ready to gather more materials for her podcast again by next Saturday evening."

"Next Saturday evening!? That's when Next HarMEOWny's concert in Breezy Hills is! If you stop delaying her by then she'll go to the concert and make the idols reveal their secrets! You've got to delay her longer!"

"Impossible. Any longer than that and she will be completely unorganized when the time comes to record her next podcast, so it is crucial that she gathers the materials she needs beforehand and the best time to start is next Saturday evening. By then, her mind will be sharp and she will have necessary energy to go out and-"

"Alright! Alright! I get it!" Katie closed her eyes and put her fingers on her forehead. She was clearly not prepared to deal with this tonight. "Geez, and here I thought I could count on you. I'll just have to figure out something else then."

Lie-in Heart continued to eat as Katie talked. "So, about that gyoza sauce…"

"Is that why you're here? To mooch free meals off of me and my family?"

"Do not worry, I left my donation on the counter near the sink. Also, if Sun Pavilion wasn't closing down I wouldn't even be here."

"Closing down!?"

"Yes. I always went there at this time of night to get my gyoza fix, but when I got there I saw a sign on the door that said the restaurant was closing down. You wouldn't happen to know anything, would you?"

"It's because of Tattlecast! She made the chef reveal some secrets that caused customers to stop going there!"

"Hmm. I'm not a big fan of spoilers, but seeing as I have a while before I get to the latest episode and Sun Pavilion was my favorite Chinese restaurant, I feel like I need to know what happened."

"Well the chef was using imitation crab in the crab omelette because of cost cuts and they were also having a problem with gnats in the kitchen that sometimes got in people's food. All of that to me screams Yo-kai involvement, though."

Lie-in Heart finally stopped eating and opened his eyes. "You don't say? I have noticed that two non-regular Yo-kai have been hanging around there a lot in the past two weeks."

"Non-regular? As in they're not regular customers?"

"Right. They also never use their Yo-kai Changeling Leaves to disguise themselves as humans to order anything like I do. They just loiter around the bar."

Katie put her hand on her chin. "Interesting. I might have to do a little investigation before the restaurant closes down for good. Do you remember what they looked like?"

"If I recall, one of them had the appearance of a little boy with red hair, big lips, and a missing tooth who wore a red cape and shorts, and the other one was a mosquito-like creature who had black hands and wore a purple robe. Any of that sound familiar?"

"Not really, but I'll keep those descriptions in mind when I go there. Thanks, Lie-in Heart! Who knows? After this is all over, I might be able to convince the chef to open Sun Pavilion back up!"

"I'd appreciate that a lot. I'd also appreciate if you told me where you keep the gyoza sauce."

Katie sighed. "Refrigerator door, top shelf, behind mom's pudding which you'd better not eat. I mean it."

"Thanks, and I won't."

Back upstairs Whisper and Sailornyan were still listening to The Tattlecast until Katie opened the door with great force, surprising the two of them and almost knocking the potted plant next to the door over. "Time for bed guys, 'cause first thing in the morning we're headed to Sun Pavilion!"

"Goodness Katie!" Sailornyan panted with her paw on her heart. "Do you not know your own strength, child?"

"Also, much as I love the idea of Chinese food for breakfast, did you already forget what was said on The Tattlecast?" Whisper asked.

"You're one to talk about forgetting stuff, Whisper." Katie replied, giving her butler an unamused look. "Listen we're not going there to eat. Lie-in Heart's downstairs and he just raided our refrigerator because Sun Pavilion is closing down after Tattlecast made the chef reveal his secrets."

"How rude!" Commented Sailornyan. "Should I go say something to hi- Wait, that means Tattlecast is free!"

"Wrong. She's still under his influence until next Saturday evening, but she's sleeping right now so-"

"WHOOPIE!" Whisper exclaimed while doing a backflip in the air. "The show will go on, whis~!"

"No it won't!" Katie replied, sounding angrier than before. "Because after we save Sun Pavilion tomorrow, we're gonna come up with a plan to stop Tattlecast from making the idols reveal their secrets next week."

Whisper slouched over in disappointment. "Oh."

"Now listen to me, Lie-in Heart went to Sun Pavilion every night to eat gyoza for the past two weeks and while he was there, he saw two unknown Yo-kai who weren't customers each time. All they did was loiter and never ordered anything, so I have a hunch that they're responsible for the gnats and cost cuts. Tattlecast possessing the chef just made everything go downhill from there."

"Oh dear, and here I thought the chef was just being a con artist." Commented Sailornyan. "Now I feel awful."

"Well hopefully you both finally understand why Tattlecast can't keep making people reveal their secrets like this." Katie looked at Whisper with a serious expression, causing him to sweat a bit. "Whisper?"

"Erm… I… I'm sorry!" He exclaimed falling to the ground and bowing repeatedly. "I don't understand! I just don't! Please forgive me Katie, but I just don't understand why you want to stop something so great!"

"I figured you wouldn't, so imagine this for a minute: I lose the Yo-kai Watch somehow so the only Yo-kai I can see are you and the friends I made so far. Tattlecast possess me without me knowing and makes me reveal that I can see and talk to Yo-kai in front of all my classmates. Even though I'm telling the truth, other people can't see Yo-kai so they all call me a liar and a freak. They all keep their distance from me and before you know it, I'm labeled as the crazy girl who talks to herself. Then my parents find out and try to get me professional help. That doesn't work either and as the years go by, I'm still friendless, labeled insane, and most likely a shut-in because society rejected me.

But hey, what does it matter if my life's a mess as long as it's good material for The Tattlecast, right?"

Whisper thought hard about this scenario that Katie came up with. What was more important, his favorite podcast that's been running for years or the happiness of his best and possibly only friend/ temporary master? "My job as your temporary butler is to ensure that you are happy and enjoying your life." Whisper then looked up at Katie, smiling with happy tears flowing from his eyes and his left fist clenched. "So if that means that I have to sacrifice something I love in order to make that happen then so be it! Let's stop Tattlecast together, whis~!"

Katie's serious expression turned into a big smile as ran to give Whisper another big hug. "I knew you'd come around eventually you big lunkhead!"

Whisper stopped crying. "Eh, what can I say? That smile of yours brings me more joy than some old podcast ever will, whis~!"

The two of them then laughed together while Sailornyan looked and smiled herself. " _I guess he's not total a moron after all._ " She thought.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The next morning, the three friends walk down Flower Road towards Sun Pavilion where they saw the disgruntled chef carrying out boxes of supplies from the restaurant and stacking them on top of each other.

"Oh no." Fretted Katie.

"Looks like we made it just in time, whis~." Commented Whisper.

The three run towards the chef as he stacked another box. "Excuse me sir," Katie began. "But is it true that Sun Pavilion is closing down? My family and I love this restaurant."

"Sorry kid, but it's all over." The large-nosed, stout chef replied with his pointy mustache drooping down out of sadness. "I have no one but myself to blame in the end." He then opened one of the boxes to pull out a large golden cat figurine with its right paw raised. "Are you familiar with figurines like this?"

"Yes. That's a maneki-neko, or beckoning cat."

"A SOLID GOLD MANEKI-NEKO OR BECKONING CAT!" exclaimed Sailornyan.

"Well I think we know why those cost cuts happened now." Commented Whisper.

"I see them in restaurants all the time." Katie continued. "They're supposed to attract customers or bring good fortune depending on which paw is raised."

"Yeah well this cursed piece of junk did neither for me." The chef claimed.

"Cursed?"

"Yeah, all my bad luck started when I bought this stupid thing from that antique store around here three weeks ago. I closed up for the night and thought I'd take a trip to there to buy myself something nice, and there it was. Trying to cat-ch my eye was a solid gold maneki-neko."

"Boo!" Whisper jeered, holding his thumb down and a gilded fan that had the Japanese kanji for, _warui jōdan_ (bad joke). Sailornyan shushed him and he shrugged. "What? He can't hear me."

"It would cost me a whole month's salary, but I didn't care. With something like that, my restaurant would have so much good luck that I'd easily make my money back! So I foolishly purchased it and took it back to the restaurant the next morning. Sure it looked right at home and gave my restaurant a nice shine, but it didn't exactly attract customers like I expected it to. In fact, I think I started to get less customers the moment I brought it in, and everything just started getting worse from there.

Because of how much money I spent on this glorified paperweight, I had to start making financial cuts, substituting the crab in the crab omelette for imitation crab and selling it at the same price until I could eventually afford to use real crab again. Then we started having a gnat outbreak in the kitchen and I couldn't afford an exterminator, so obviously they got into some of the dishes, especially the mapo tofu, and I tried to pick them out or hide them as best as I could. The final nail in the coffin was last week when it felt like something came over me and I couldn't help but reveal everything that was going on to the customers. I don't know if it was my conscience getting the better of me or what, but it was like I had no control over what I was saying at all."

"Tattlecast." Katie muttered under her breath.

"I mean, I know I should've been honest to begin with, but how else was I gonna make my money back? In this business it's either sink or swim. Needless to say, I sank as word spread out that I was a crook and people stopped eating here. So here I am now without a restaurant, in debt, and hoping I can pawn this cursed garbage for at least half of what I bought it for."

"A combination of bad choices and bad luck." Whisper commented. "Poor guy."

"Luck has nothing to do with it." Sailornyan replied. "This is all the work of those two Yo-kai Katie was talking about."

"I still have my doubts, but if Katie believes there's Yo-kai involvement then I'll take her word for it."

"I'm sorry this happened to you sir," Katie began. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to go in and, uh, say my last goodbyes to this place. I mean my family and I REALLY loved this restaurant."

"Do whatever you want kid." The chef nonchalantly replied. "If you feel like it, keep an eye on these boxes for me while I take a break to eat at Sushi Springdale. I already lost my restaurant and am about to lose my dignity by eating from my competition, so I'd rather not lose anything else if it can be helped." The chef walked off leaving Katie and her Yo-kai friends to investigate the now barren Chinese restaurant.

The inside was dark and gloomy. It looked like it had been abandoned for years despite only being that way for a little while. Tables were overturned, chairs were stacked on one another, and the barstools were ripped up from their original places. One could only wonder what state the kitchen was in.

"It's so sad." Lamented Katie. "It used to be so full of life. Now it almost looks like a haunted house."

"Which makes it the perfect spot for troublemaking Yo-kai." Sailornyan inferred.

"No time to take in the atmosphere, you two." Advised Whisper. "Katie, use your watch to see what you can find."

Katie nodded and popped opened the Yo-kai Lens on the watch to scan for any Yo-kai lurking around the restaurant. She looked all around the overturned tables and the deserted bar only to find nothing but dust and gnats. "Well I see the gnats, but no Yo-kai."

Whisper closed his eyes and held his index finger up. "See? I was right. Everything can't always be blamed on Yo-kai. Sometimes people just make bad choices and-"

"Found them!" Katie exclaimed.

"Whis~?!"

The two Yo-kai revealed looked almost exactly like how Lie-in Heart described them, a boy and a mosquito creature. The boy had big yellow lips as if he had just dunked his face into a vat of mustard, a chipped tooth, and a single tuft of beige hair that looked like a flat-bottomed teardrop. He wore a battered cape with a patch and pale-yellow swirls on it, red shorts, and a pair of geta that were too big for him, yet he seemed to walk in them easily.

The mosquito creature had black hands that resembled an old warlock's, leaves at the tips of its antennae, purple wings which were even darker on the outer edges and formed a swirl at the tips, and wore a purple robe with two dark stripes on the arms that covered its whole ghastly body, plus a hood that covered its head revealing only its two round, sad looking eyes and yellow proboscis.

"It appearzzz the jig izzz up." The mosquito creature said.

"Crud!" The boy huffed. He then took a closer look at Katie's face and to him she was like a Venus sent straight from heaven. "Hubba hubba!" He exclaimed as his closed eyes suddenly turned into hearts and smoke came from his nostrils while his hair kept pointing up and down. "If we were caught by a hottie like this, I don't care how much trouble we're in!"

"Eugh." Grimaced Katie. "Whisper, who are these Yo-kai?"

"Those two miscreants are Moskevil and Lodo!" Whisper replied with confidence. "Moskevil causes homes and small restaurants like this to be crawling with pests. First it starts off as a simple gnat infestation and before you know it, there'll be roaches, mosquitos, and flies everywhere to the point you'll have to call an exterminator! That's assuming you can afford one, however, as Lodo here causes you to make bad money investments that will inevitably drive you into poverty or in this case, ruin your business! These two are responsible for small restaurants closing their doors prematurely!"

"Wow, someone's been studying after all! I'm proud of you!"

"He's holding the Yo-kai Pad behind his back." Sailornyan snitched. "He looked it while they were talking."

Katie then gave Whisper a glare of un-amusement causing his face to turn blue.

"Well here's a fun fact I can tell you without looking at the Yo-kai Pad! Did you know Lodo's hair is beige and his cape is green and not red like Lie-in Heart said? That also means Lie-in Heart must be colorblind."

Whisper was hoping those facts would impress Katie as he smiled nervously at her while sweating, but her expression did not change. "We'll talk about this later, but right now we have bigger problems." Katie looked and pointed at Moskevil and Lodo who weren't worried about being caught in the slightest.


	10. Chapter 10

The dull, lifeless feeling of the deserted restaurant was soon diminished as the standoff between the three friends and the two troublemaking Yo-kai made it feel like a battlefield.

"So, Moskevil is responsible for the gnat outbreak in the kitchen!" Katie concluded.

"That'zzz correct." Moskevil confirmed.

"And Lodo made the chef spend all of his money on that golden maneki-neko!"

"Correctomundo, dollface!" Lodo replied while picking his nose.

"Why are you guys doing this!?" Katie angrily asked. "Sun Pavilion is a great restaurant!"

"But it doezzzn't zzzerve our favorite drinkzzz." Moskevil softly replied while still sounding threatening. "Therefore, it muzzzt be eliminated."

"Yeah, cuteness! Our masterplan is to get every small restaurant in Springdale closed and replaced with juice and milk bars!" Lodo explained.

"But why?" asked Sailornyan. "You know you can get those things from any Everymart in town, right?"

"Not the good stuff, pussycat! Amazing Milk is only sold at the Hot Springs and Summer Festivals, and is always limited so if you snooze you lose! … which I always unfortunately do."

"And the one drink that I dezzzire izzz zzzo rare that you can't even buy it from a zzztore. Zzzaid to be the drink of godzzz, it hazzz truly earned the name, VoltXtreme!"

The three friends stare blankly at Moskevil for a few seconds. "What?" they all asked in unison.

"VoltXtreme! The drink you can't buy anywhere! It'zzz only obtainable by buying a regular drink from the vending machinezzz and praying that you get it inzzztead of the drink you chozzze. No one even knowzzz who producezzz it, but it zzztill hazzz itzzz own commercialzzz zzzomehow. The people in it look azzz mizzzerable azzz I do until they drink it, then their livezzz take a turn for the better.

They get everything their heartzzz dezzzire from money, friendzzz, women, you name it. I've heard zzztoriezzz about the few lucky individualzzz who have experienced VoltXtreme'zzz glory, but they do not do the drink juzzztice. That'zzz why I muzzzt try it for myzzzelf to truly appreciate itzzz magnificence and life changing powerzzz."

"And 'cuz of that, we're flat broke now." Lodo chimed in. "He spent all of our money trying to get it from the vending machines around town."

"Yezzz, unfortunately one of the many downzzzides of being me izzz that I'm forever doomed to a life of bad luck and mizzzery. But once we put our plan into action, that all will change! When the barzzz are up and running, VoltXtreme and Amazzzing Milk will be in high demand cauzzzing the companiezzz to begin mazzzzzz production of the drinkzzz which in turn, will create an endlezzzzzz zzzupply. Then Lodo and I will live like kingzzz and my life will no longer be a living hell with that zzzweet zzzweet drink finally being mine! It'zzz the perfect plan!"

"It really izzzn't." Mocked Katie. "For one, how are you so sure that the restaurants will get replaced with juice and milk bars? They could get replaced with anything. Clothing stores, karaoke lounges, even more Everymarts. Two, even if that were the case, if those drinks you want were mass produced, corners would have to be cut during production and they'd lose what makes them taste so special. Three, I don't care what the commercials say, Moskevil, but a drink won't change your life. Only you can do that by making the right choices. Four, you'd still have to pay for the drinks so where would you get the money if you're broke?"

The two Yo-kai laughed. "Who said we were planning on paying for anything, ponytail?" asked Lodo.

"Wait, so you were just gonna steal them anyway!? You realize doing that would hurt their profits and cause them to close as well, right!?"

"Well we haven't ironed out the fine detailzzz yet, but we'll jump that bridge when we get to it." Explained Moskevil.

Katie facepalmed. "Not only is that counterproductive, but that's not even the right expression!"

"Don't waste your breath, Katie." Sailornyan chimed in. "This conversation isn't going anywhere. It's clear these two ignoramuses acted solely off of their unattainable pipe dream without thinking ahead."

"Katie, huh? That's a pretty name!" Lodo effused. "Almost as pretty as you!"

"Thanks for the compliment, but I am waaay out of your league." Katie replied.

"Aw, come on sweet cheeks! If you go out with me you'll be in on our plan and have all Amazing Milk and VoltXtreme you can drink!"

Katie rolled her eyes. "As _enticing_ as that sounds, I still refuse. I'd rather date someone who has better life plans than drinking beverages all day, even if they are rare ones. Someone who has money and can bring excitement to my life." A powerful odor then invaded her space causing her nose. "Ugh, and someone who doesn't smell like they crawled out of a dumpster."

Lodo's gleeful expression suddenly turned into an angry one. "Well excuuuse me for not owning a bathtub and a toothbrush! When you're poor, hygiene is the least of your worries! Living in poverty isn't easy and it ticks me off whenever stuck up, gold digging bimbos like you who have it made look down on me!"

A blue shadow loomed over Katie's face and her right eye started to twitch as she reached her breaking point while trying to crack a smile to keep her composure. "D-did you just call me a 'gold-digging bimbo' you little gap-toothed imp?'"

"Yeah and I'll say it again! Gold-digging bim-" Before he could finish, a bar of soap was jammed into his mouth by Sailornyan.

"That should take care of that sailor mouth of yours!" She said. She then quickly tied him up with a rope, leaving him defenseless and squirming on the ground. Seconds later he began to glow and his Yo-kai Medal appeared from his body. It depicted him squatting with two coins falling on his head while he smiled. "Whether rich or poor, there's never an excuse to commit crime or speak to someone in a disrespectful manner, especially ladies."

"Thanks, Sailornyan." Katie praised as she picked up. "I was real close to doing something worse to him."

"I have several questions though," Whisper chimed in. "For starters, why do you carry around rope and soap bars?"

"For all the Lodo's in today's society." Sailornyan answered.

"Whis~?"

"Anywho, I assume you two can handle that mosquito thing over there without me, right? Now that this penurious demon is out of the way, I'm going to go find that antique store the chef was talking about to see if they have that vintage ship in a bottle I've been after. Toodles!" Sailornyan walked out of the restaurant while Katie and Whisper stared at her.

"Ship in a bottle?" Katie asked.

"I guess a little bit of Lodo's influence must have rubbed off on her while she was tying him up." Whisper shrugged.

Katie sighed. "Anyway, you're next Moskevil!"

"Ha! Unlike Lodo I won't be defeated zzzo eazzzily!" Moskevil claimed as he flew over the bar. "Let'zzz zzzee how you like being bitten by a thouzzzand mozzzquitozzz!" Moskevil raised his hands in the air, expelling a purple aura from them which caused many mosquitoes to come flying from the kitchen. "Come my little friendzzz! Let uzzz form my Soultimate Move!" The mosquitos began to form a spherical orb that grew larger over time.

"Katie!" Whisper exclaimed in a deep voice as he floated in front of Katie. He then struck a pose with his right hand on his hip and the other hand above his antenna. He also seemed to have grown a nose, eyelashes and yellow eyebrows and his irises turned purple and had white sparkles in them. "Have you ever noticed how shiny and flawless my body is?" He smiled.

Katie looked him with absolute bewilderment. "No. Not really."

"Well, I take very good care of it. Lots of moisturizer, plenty of sun, and of course I eat plenty of wild salmon, not farm-raised. So I hope you understand when I say…" Whisper's face turned back to normal, only his eyes were bloodshot. He then put his hands on Katie's shoulders, shaking her back and forth. "IF YOU DON'T FIND A WAY TO STOP MOSKEVIL'S ATTACK I'LL BE COVERED IN MOSQUITO BITES AND MY SKIN WILL NO LONGER BE FLAWLESS AND IF THAT HAPPENS I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU EVEN IF I AM YOUR TEMPORARY BUTLER, WHIS~!"

Katie pushed Whisper's hands from her shoulders and shook her head in a rapid succession to regain her equilibrium. "Okay, okay! You're gonna make me throw up!" Katie spun around, popped open the watch and pulled out a tough tribe medal before flipping it into the air and catching it afterwards. "Come on out my friend! Calling, Goldenyan! Yo-kai Medal, do your thing!"

"Summoning Tough!" The watch announced after the medal was inserted, causing a bright yellow spiral to emit from the center.

As the Tough Tribe's song played, Goldenyan's interior design was revealed followed by her flying with her jetpack in a heroic pose and finishing with a battle stance and exclaiming her name.

"Goldenyan!"

"Her!?" asked Whisper.

"Goldenyan, block Moskevil's ultimate attack!" commanded Katie.

"Oh please, she's just gonna complain about it being too easy like always."

"Very well." Goldenyan replied.

"Whis~?!"

Goldenyan stood in a firm position with her back arched and arms to her side. "Enduring a Soultimate Move like this head-on will truly allow me to shine and show off my golden status! I'll even emit a soundwave from my ears that only the mosquitos can hear so they will fly directly towards me!"

"Thizzz will be your end!" Moskevil shouted as the giant mosquito orb had finished forming. "Think Evil!" Moskevil flew up in a hunched position and released a wave of mosquitos that flew towards Goldenyan who did not even flinch when the scourge attacked her and almost covered her body entirely.

"I can barely see her anymore! She's a goner!" Whisper exclaimed.

Katie smiled. "Wait for it…"

Soon the wave of mosquitoes began to dissipate as every mosquito fell to the ground one by one and Goldenyan stood still shining and unfazed while giving Katie and Whisper a thumbs up.

Katie jumped up and cheered. "Woohoo! You did it!"

"Of course," Goldenyan replied. "Not even mosquitoes infused with supernatural energy can pierce my golden exterior. Even if they could, my internal circuitry would have fried them to a crisp."

"No! Our plan izzz ruined!" shouted Moskevil. "You won't get away with thizzz!"

"Come on Moskevil enough is enough." Scolded Katie. "You lost, so just accept your defeat with dignity."

Moskevil sighed. "I zzzuppozzze you're right. All I wanted wazzz to tazzzte that fabled VoltXtreme and turn my mizzzerable life around."

"I'm sorry Moskevil but it's like I told you, a drink can't make your life better. Only you c-"

"Wait. Did you say VoltXtreme?" interrupted Goldenyan. "I can make that for you right now."

"What?!" Whisper, Katie, and Moskevil asked in unison.

"In the future, VoltXtreme is as common as Y-Cola and its distinguished taste did not have to be sacrificed at all. Plus, as a golden all-purpose robot from said future, I happen to have a built-in VoltXtreme making function."

"You'd do that for me even after everything I've done?" asked Moskevil.

"Why not?" Goldenyan agreed. "It's just a drink after all. Now activating VoltXtreme making function."

Nobody could see what was going on from the outside of Goldenyan, but on the inside she was mixing all of the ingredients for VoltXtreme together, pouring it into a bottle, capping it, and then wrapping it in the official seal with its tag. Finally, she chilled it at absolute zero temperature for less than one nanosecond to make it cold. At last her stomach area then opened up and out came a fresh bottle of VoltXtreme on a conveyor belt. "Process completed. Enjoy your VoltXtreme."Top of Form

Bottom of Form


	11. Chapter 11

Moskevil's eyes lit up for the first time in his life. The drink he had worked so hard to obtain was right there before his eyes. "Th-thizzz izzz…" He held and caressed the bottle as if it were a newborn baby.

"Well don't just stare at it, drink it!" demanded Whisper.

"Oh! Right!" Moskevil opened the bottle and started drinking through his proboscis, like a mosquito would a person's blood. After three gulps, his eyes opened wide and he seemed to have gained a new perspective on life. He felt like he could do anything like fly a kite, paint a picture, or even shake hands with the idols from Next HarMEOWny. He then began to cry tears of joy before taking another sip. "Thank you zzzo much. I'm zzzorry for all the trouble we've cauzzzed." Suddenly he started to glow and his medal emerged from his head and on the floor. Unlike his current emotion, it depicted him in a state of panic or fear with sweat drops appearing on his robe and his hands over his head.

"It's fine, as long as you learned your lesson and don't do it again." Katie reassured as she picked up his medal.

"Of courzzze. We'll leave immediately and call off our plan!"

"Quick question though, you two aren't affiliated with Tattlecast right?"

"Not at all. She may have advanced the rezzztaurant'zzz closure for uzzz, but she wazzz never a part of our plan."

"I see."

"Wait, how can you listen to the podcast if you're poor?" exclaimed Whisper.

Katie bonked Whisper on the head. "Whisper that's rude!"

"Owie…"

"No it'zzz fine. Zzzee, Lodo and I are part of a community made up of poor Yo-kai who live in a back-alley located in Uptown Zzzpringdale. Our anonymouzzz benefactor provided uzzz with a zzzingle Yo-kai Pad to lizzzten to it from."

"Interesting." Katie said with her thumb and index finger on her chin. "So there are more Yo-kai living in poverty?"

"Yezzz, it'zzz quite zzzad actually. Lodo and I thought doing all of thizzz would be our ticket to the good life, but you've helped me zzzee the error of my wayzzz zzzo I'm ready to turn over a new leaf. Feel free to call uzzz any time!"

"Thanks, Moskevil!"

With his drink finished, Moskevil flew towards the exit while Lodo was still struggling to get untied. "Come on, Lodo. It'zzz time for uzzz to go."

Lodo eventually got on his feet and shouted something at Katie, with the soap bar muffling his speech, before hopping out of the restaurant.

"Not bad, Katie!" Whisper praised while rubbing his head "You got to the bottom of Sun Pavilion's money and bug problems and made two new Yo-kai friends in the process!"

Katie smiled but it didn't last for long. "Still, we have a bigger issue at hand here." She replied pointing out the pitiful state of the restaurant. "It's gonna be really hard to convince the chef to give this place a second chance and even if we do, I doubt he'll want to put everything back."

"Indeed. There's also the factor of convincing the customers to come back. After everything's that's happened I'd say it's downright impossible, whis~."

"Excusez-moi, but have you forgotten that you have a golden state-of-the-art robot from the future here?" asked Goldenyan. "Someone of my status spits on the word 'impossible.'" Goldenyan's eyes glowed as she collected data from the restaurant's current state and looked up photos of it from the past using her built-in internet browser. "Using my superior technology and referencing past photos of this restaurant posted on , I can easily rebuild it just as good and an iota better. Regaining the customers' trust should be a non-issue as well though it will have to wait until after everything is in working order again."

"Wow, someone's unusually helpful today, whis~."

"That's awesome, Goldenyan!" smiled Katie. "How long will it take you to put everything back though? You have to do it before the chef gets back from Sushi Springdale."

"No worries. After essentially losing everything he had, I hypothesize that he will be there for quite a while." She replied. "Even so, this should take me no longer than 2 minutes at most."

"That quick!?" exclaimed Whisper.

"Also tell me, Katie, has Tattlecast affected you in any way?" asked Goldenyan.

"Not me, but she made my friends reveal their gross secrets at Café Shanista around all the other customers. Now we can never go back there because their reputations are ruined. I called Lie-in Heart to use his powers to delay her, but he's going to stop doing it Saturday evening during Next HarMEOWny's concert in Breezy Hills, so now we need to come up with another plan to stop her from revealing the idols' secrets."

"Hmm, I may have a solution to your first problem, but as for your second problem here's a hint: A friend of your friend's."

"What?" Whisper asked.

"Come back in a week to see the fruits of my labor!" Goldenyan opened a portal into the future beneath her feet and went down into it. "I'LL BE BACK."

Katie and Whisper looked at each other in confusion. "She was doing so well until she dropped that vague hint, whis~."

"Yeah, but I'm certain we'll figure something out before the concert!"

Whisper nodded. "Whis~!"

…

On the night before Next HarMEOWny's concert, Katie had just finished taking a bath and was walking up to her room, covering her body with a towel. She had a look of determination on her face the whole time. Her two Yo-kai friends could feel the tension in the air as she entered the room and walked over to her desk to pull her scale from under it.

Her heart was beating rapidly as beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. "This is it." She began. "Despite how much I've hated it, this whole week I've given up sweets, I've gone to bed earlier so I could wake up to exercise to Burly's Beat Camp before school, I've drank nothing but water, milk, and tea, and I've jogged every evening for at least 2 kilometers. Time to see if it was all worth it."

Katie hesitated to step onto the scale for a moment, but eventually got over her anxiety. As the numbers began rising, Sailornyan blindfolded Whisper so he couldn't see them.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "What's the big idea?"

"Men aren't supposed to know a lady's weight!" Sailornyan answered.

"But as her temporary butler I feel it's important for me to be aware of her growth!"

"Be quiet you two!" commanded Katie. It wasn't like her to get angry at the arguments between Whisper and Sailornyan, but tonight she needed complete focus. When the numbers on the scale stopped rising, Katie's eyes widened as she began to smile. "Woohoo! I did it! I lost five pounds!" She cheered as she jumped up and down causing her towel to start falling.

"KATIE YOUR TOWEL!" Sailornyan shouted as she pushed the towel back up before it fell too low and tied it around her body so it wouldn't fall again. "I'm happy for you sweetie, but please be mindful of your dignity."

Katie chuckled with her eyes closed. " _Hehe_ , sorry."

"Can I take this off now?" asked Whisper. "I don't like not being able to see for extended periods of time, whis~."

"Oh stop whining and wait until she gets dressed." Sailornyan ordered.

"I told you it's okay, Sailornyan." Katie reassured as she walked over to her dresser to take out her pajamas.

"Well I don't approve of that, honestly."

While Katie and Sailornyan continued talking, Whisper suddenly got a notification on his Yo-kai Pad. The notification sounded like microphone feedback but less ear grating. "Could it be?" he gasped. After hearing it he immediately took off his blindfold and floated over to the bed to see if the notification was what he thought it was. "IT IS! TATTLECAST UPLOADED A NEW EPISODE!"

"Wait, what!?" Katie asked, dropping her pajamas on the floor out of shock. "Lie-in Heart said he'd delay her until _tomorrow_ evening!"

"Oh drat this isn't an episode, it's an update."

"Well play it anyway!" commanded Sailornyan. "It's still worth listening to!"

Whisper tapped the episode and it began to play. After the intro theme, Tattlecast started talking while Whisper translated for Katie. "Tell tell. (Good evening, my loyal listeners.) Tell tell. (I've gotten your emails, letters, and death threats, so today I have a quick update on my sudden disappearance last week.) Tell tell. (I truly am sorry for being silent for so long, but I'm not _lion_ when I tell you it was out of my control.) Tell tell? (In fact, why don't I let my _mane_ guest explain everything to you?)"

"Oh no, Lie-in Heart." Fretted Katie.

"My name is Lie-in Heart. I'm an A-ranked Yo-kai of the Brave Tribe. For the past week, I've been using my powers to delay Tattlecast because I felt it was not yet time for her to gather materials for her next episode. Even though I had only listened to episode one at the time, I considered myself to already be a fan of The Tattlecast and I was just looking out for her well-being."

"Tattlecast broke her promise." Sailornyan said in complete shock. "I don't believe it."

"Tell tell? (Well isn't that sweet folks?) Tell tell. (Lookin' out for poor ol' Tattlecast like that.) Tell tell. (They should call you "Sweetie-Heart.") Tell tell? (But how about you give the audience a bit more information?)"

"I was summoned by my human friend, Katie Forester, to inspirit Tattlecast so she could stop making Katie's friends reveal their secrets at Café Shanista. As I said, my only motive was to ensure Tattlecast was getting the proper rest she needed. I couldn't care less about Katie's friends to be honest."

"So blunt." Commented Whisper.

"Hmph! Well see if I call you for anything from now on!" huffed Katie.

"Tell tell! (You heard it here folks!) Tell tell! (This Katie Forester person has it out for me and The Tattlecast!)"

"Oh just listen to her, trying to sound like the victim." Scoffed Katie. "Unbelievable."

"Tell tell? (Alright King-of Hearts thanks for the info, but I'm afraid I'm still angry with you for keeping me away from my work for so long, so why don't you tell the audience a little more about yourself?)"

"My powers make people wait for the perfect opportunity before doing anything, including myself. I've always believed that that was the result of me realizing my true potential, giving me intuition beyond normal understanding. The truth, however, is that I'm just a bad procrastinator. Always have been and apparently always will be. There's no meaning behind my waiting. I just do something whenever I feel like it."

"That's not much of a secret in my opinion." Claimed Whisper.

"Even though it was wrong of her to make him reveal that, yeah I agree." Katie replied.

"But she promised from day one..." Sailornyan melancholily muttered, looking down at the ground.

"Tell tell? (Now I know what you're thinking, "but Tattlecast, didn't you promise to never reveal the secrets of fellow Yo-kai since day one of the podcast?") Tell tell. (Yes I did, but this Yo-kai helped a human who wants to get rid of me and my podcast, so he paid the price for doing so, as will any other Yo-kai who try to do the same.) Tell tell. (You hear that, Katie Forester? I know you're somehow listening to this. If I catch you or any of your Yo-kai pals trying to interfere with my work again, I will make your lives miserable.) Tell tell! (That's all for this update folks!) Tell tell! (I'll be back tomorrow night with the secrets from the Next HarMEOWny idols!)"

When the update ended, Katie sat on her bed looking distressed with her fingers on her forehead and her eyes closed. "I can't believe this."


	12. Chapter 12

Unlike Katie and Sailornyan, Whisper was not the least bit concerned after the update. "What's wrong, Katie?"

"What's wrong!? What do you mean "what's wrong!?"" she irritably asked. "Didn't you hear what she said? If I or any of my Yo-kai friends try to stop her she'll make our lives miserable!"

"Don't tell me you're actually going to let that stop you though?"

"Well not me, but what about all my Yo-kai friends? None of them are going to want to help me after that update."

"How can you be so sure? They might not have even heard it yet."

Katie walked over to her desk, opened the top drawer, and took her blue Yo-kai Medallium out of it. She flipped it open to a random page, took a medal from it and inserted it into the Model Zero on the desk then turned the dial to 1.

"Sorry but, _Hanako-san_ has refused the summoning request." The watch said with Hanako-san's voice saying her own name.

A message left by Hanako-san then played. "Sorry Katie, I'm afraid you're on your own this time. I can't afford to risk any of my or my company's secrets being revealed. N-not that I have anything scandalous to hide, but still I hope you understand." Katie then looked at Whisper while pointing at the watch.

"Wow, news really does travel fast." Whisper commented. "Well business owners Hanako-san are usually very secretive anyway. Call someone else, I'm sure they'd help, whis~."

Katie took Hanako-san's medal out of the watch, put another one in, and turned the dial to 1.

"Sorry but, _Yoodooit_ has refused the summoning request." The same voice from before said, with Yoodooit's voice saying his own name.

A message left by Yoodooit then played. "You do it, Katie. I don't want my doctor to learn that I've been smoking when I shouldn't be… I hope he's not around when you hear this message." Katie then looked at Whisper while pointing at the watch.

"Well how helpful would _he_ have been anyway?" asked Whisper.

"You still don't get it, do you?" Katie asked with her arms crossed. "Even after I went over the plan with you five times earlier today."

A sweat drop appeared on the back of Whisper's head. "Oh! _That_ plan! Now I see where you're coming from _hahaha._ "

Katie looked at him with doubt knowing that he was lying. "Well it doesn't even matter now. It's over. Next HarMEOWny is done for."

"Nonsense, Katie!" Sailornyan reassured. "You still have me, right? My eyes have opened up to see that Tattlecast isn't the Yo-kai I thought she was. Anyone who breaks a promise like that is not worthy of my praise, so I'm willing to put all of my secrets on the line if it means stopping her for good."

"Thanks, Sailornyan. But I'm afraid it's going to take more than you to stop her, no offense."

Whisper floated over to Katie and pointed at himself with his thumb. "Don't forget your temporary Yo-kai butler is here to help too! I've got nothing to hide, whis~!" He grinned with his eyes closed.

Though she was mildly annoyed with him at the moment, Whisper's false bravado made Katie smirk. "Oh really? So would you tell me the truth if you forgot what the original plan was?"

"Of course, but I didn't forget. It involved…" Whisper began to sweat and look away from her. "Stopping Tattlecast?"

Katie giggled. "Look guys, I appreciate your willingness, but it's gonna take more than just the both of you to stop her. I imagine she won't be easily beaten this time."

"Well I'm sure your closet dweller is willing to help too, right?" asked Sailornyan. The three friends looked towards the closet but no response came from it.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he has a ton of secrets he's trying to keep under wraps." Said Whisper.

"Yeah." Katie sighed. "I dunno, are you sure there isn't a single Yo-kai who doesn't listen to The Tattlecast?"

"Actually, there is." A familiar voice coming from Katie's bed said. The three looked over in that direction to see Lie-in Heart eating beef and daikon soup. He also had a red slap mark on his left cheek. "Gotta say, I'm not a fan of the menu tonight, but I still left my donation on the counter."

"Well look what the cat dragged in." Katie sarcastically remarked with her hands on her hips. "I see Tattlecast let you go, but not before giving you a present."

"That looks like it hurts, whis~." Commented Whisper.

"It does." Lie-in Heart replied. "For an elderly woman, she sure hits hard."

"I'm going to do something even worse to you if you don't stop eating on Katie's bed." Sailornyan threatened.

"So, what happened anyway?" asked Katie. "How was she able to free herself from your control?"

Ignoring Sailornyan, Lie-in Heart replied to Katie as he continued to eat. "Unable to get my gyoza fix at Sun Pavilion anymore, I set out on a quest to find a new Chinese restaurant to eat at. Alas, none of them made their gyoza like the chef at Sun Pavilion did. It was either too salty, too undercooked, or too crispy." He then ate another spoonful of the soup. "Halfway through my journey, I lost track of time and had completely forgotten about Tattlecast. See, when I inspirit someone, they stay under my influence for a maximum of 24 hours even if I'm not around. Unfortunately, I arrived back one second late, and she got the jump on me. I apologize for letting you down, Katie."

"Oh, don't worry Lie-in Heart. I was let down a week ago after you said you wouldn't delay her longer than tomorrow evening." Katie said, giving him a false smile before her expression became neutral again. "Anyway, you said there was a Yo-kai who didn't listen to The Tattlecast. Who are they?"

Lie-in Heart opened his eyes. "His name is, Draaagin."

"Draaagin? Never heard of him."

"He's quite a common Yo-kai in everyday life." Whisper explained while reading from the Yo-kai Pad, which annoyed Katie. "When you're inspirited by him, you'll become indecisive as well as a huge procrastinator. The Yo-kai Incident caused by him is…" Whisper put on swirly glasses while sporting a fake overbite and pointing left and right. "Hmm, do I want the pink slushy or the blue slushy? Pink or blue? Pink or blue? There's pink and there's blue. Ah, I can't make up my mind. Give about another minute or so." Whisper then put on a business suit on. "Hurry up, ya moron! Make a decision already! My lunch break's almost over!" Whisper removed his disguise. "Like that!"

"Right, I met him a ramen shop I stopped at during my travels. He's the one that made me realize my intuition is actually just procrastination, no matter how spiritual I try to make it sound. He said it was nothing to be ashamed, of especially since I have no responsibilities. Why not procrastinate since you have infinite time to do the things you eventually want to do?"

"That's terrible advice!" exclaimed Katie. "Nobody has infinite time! Even if you think you do you never know when something important will- Forget it! Forget it! What did he say about The Tattlecast?"

"He said he had been wanting to listen to it for a long time but he still hasn't bought an electronic device to play it on. Something about avoiding "planned obsolescence" altogether, whatever that is."

Katie suddenly remembered the hint that Goldenyan gave her a week ago. "A friend of your friend's."

"So that means he's not fan of the podcast and would help us if we asked him, right?" Katie asked.

"Perhaps. I also don't imagine he has many secrets to hide, but as I said he's quite the indecisive fellow. There's no guarantee that he'll help you in time for tomorrow." Lie-in Heart replied.

"We don't have any other options! Where do we find him?"

"I don't imagine he travels much so he might still be at the ramen restaurant I met him in."

"Where was it?"

"I don't remember."

The three friends fell to the ground after hearing that.

"Next HarMEOWny really is done for, whis~." Whisper said with his face planted on the ground.

"You didn't let me finish." Lie-in Heart continued. "He said he can be summoned anytime by performing a sacred summoning ritual."

Katie looked up from the ground. "Sacred summoning ritual?"

"Oooh I'll get the candles!" exclaimed Whisper.

"Not that kind of summoning ritual." Explained Lie-in Heart. "To summon Draaagin you must simply put off something that you've been meaning to do for five minutes. Doing so will invite him into your household, but there's no guarantee he will show up right away if at all."

"Put off something, huh?" pondered Katie. "I guess right now I'm technically putting off getting dressed and brushing my hair. I also meant to put the Yo-kai Medals I took out of the Medallium back and put the Medallium itself back into my drawer, so that's four things I'm putting off!"

"I'd actually find it preferable if you did the first two things actually." Sailornyan implored. "Especially since we have an uninvited guest who's testing my patience."

Katie rolled around on her rug. "Eh, maybe later."

"Good, denying requests like that makes him more likely to appear." Explained Lie-in Heart.

"Stop encouraging this!" shouted Sailornyan. "I'm already annoyed with you for several reasons, so don't make me angrier!"

"Katie, shouldn't you be getting ready for bed as well to be rested for Next HarMEOWny's concert tomorrow?" Whisper asked with his hands on his hips.

"Oh! Good thinking Whisper! That's five things!" pointed out Katie. "Uh, I mean, nah give me a minute."

"Ugh, I can't watch this." Sailornyan complained while covering her eyes.

After about ten minutes of Katie putting off things she should have been doing, Draaagin was still nowhere to be seen. "Is he here yet?" groaned Katie. "Even though I'm on the rug, the floor isn't very comfortable."

"I haven't seen him." Lie-in Heart replied while eating cheesy corn chips.

"If I find as much as a single crumb on Katie's bed, so help me, you'll be walking around with all those tails of yours between your legs!" Scolded Sailornyan.

"I apologize, but I need something to get the daikon taste out of my mouth."

"Well who gave you permission to eat it in the first place!? You weren't even invited to dinner!"

"Sailornyan, could you please just keep an eye out for Draaagin?" asked Katie.

Sailornyan sighed. "Fine. You're much too lenient with people, Katie. Anyway, I still haven't seen him. What about you, butler? Picking up anything on that antenna of yours, perhaps?"

"Eh, why don't you ask me later, pinky?" Whisper responded while lying on the ground and drinking a soda.

"Huh? Are you trying to summon him too?"

"He can't be summoned by Yo-kai, you know." Explained Lie-in Heart. "He only appears for humans, so you can get up."

"That's cool. Maybe later, whis~." Replied Whisper.

"Your call." Lie-in Heart replied as he ate another chip.

"I'm not going to ask you to get off Katie's bed again." Sailornyan said angrily.

"Come on guys, really?!" Katie exclaimed as she got up from the floor and stretched. She then grabbed her Yo-kai Watch, popped open the lens and shone the light over in Whisper's direction, revealing a large, long-faced bluish green dragon with brown hair and antlers, a beige stomach and eyebrows, yellow closed eyes and spots on its backside, darker bluish green whiskers, and a red fantail. "Whisper was giving off all the signs! Pay attention!"

"Mmmm, what a draaag." It said with its arms folded.

"Nya~! So big!" exclaimed Sailornyan. "How did I miss that!?"

"You were too busy berating Lie-in Heart while _he_ was too busy eating." Katie explained.

"Well everyone, meet Draaagin." Lie-in Heart said, finishing off his chips.


	13. Chapter 13

Draaagin laid across the floor with his head rested on his right hand while he tapped his fingers with his left.

"So Draaagin inspirited the butler instead of Katie then." Said Sailornyan. "While I appreciate that, I have to ask why since it was Katie who performed the ritual?"

"I said preforming the ritual would invite him into your house, not that it would make him inspirit you." Explained Lie-in Heart while Sailornyan side-eyed him.

"Hey Lie-in Heart, how ya doin' maaan?" asked Draaagin.

"I've been better honestly, but tonight isn't about me." Lie-in Heart replied while pointing at Katie. "That girl is the one who requires your assistance."

"Good evening." Katie bowed.

"Hmmm? Could you be the famous Katie Forester that LH has told me sooo much about?" asked Draaagin.

Katie smiled and blushed. "Well I don't about famous, but yeah that's me."

"Well it's real pleasure to finally meet you in person and I gotta say, I'm looovin' the minimalistic look. The towel, the messy hair, and no shoes ooor socks. Tells me that you're the type of person who doesn't care about what society thinks of you, and you fix yourself up wheneeever you feel like it." Draaagin then gave her a thumbs up. "Faaar out, sister. Faaar out."

Katie's face turned completely red as she finally realized how unpresentable she looked. "Oh no no no I don't always look like this! I just got out of the bathtub not too long ago that's all."

"Stiiill, you put off getting dressed and brushing your hair anyway, which is why I was able to come here. Riiight on."

"Ugh, I can't believe I'm letting you be seen like this by so many males!" Groaned Sailornayn. "This goes against everything I stand for! Can you please just hurry up and explain why we need his help so you can make yourself decent?"

…

"So that's why we need your help." Katie finished explaining.

"Mmmm, what a draaag." Draaagin replied. "I do nooot approve of what Tattlecast is doing at all, no no no. Personally I believe people should alllways be honest with themselves and others, but if someone has a secret to keep then it should stay a secret. Know what I meeean?"

Katie smiled. "Right! So you'll help us then?"

"Mmmm, I don't knooow. Why don't we discuss this in a week or sooo?"

"Weren't you listening you hemming and hawing demon?" asked Sailornyan. "We don't have a "week or soooo!" The concert is tomorrow!"

"I know but it's just reaaally hard to decide whether or not tomorrow's a good day for me to help you." Draaagin replied.

"Geez, this guy really is indecisive." Groaned Katie.

"I warned you." Lie-in Heart said while now eating cup ramen.

"You're still eating!?"

"Apologies, but I'm afraid the taste of the daikon still stains my tongue."

"Then why not chew some gum or something instead of eating my parents and I out of house and home?"

"No worries, I'll leave my donation before I leave."

"That's not the issue here. Besides, dad's still wondering where the money you left last time came from."

The scent of the noodles caught Draaagin's attention. "Saaay buddy, you gonna share those with your good pal Draaagin?"

"He should, given how much he's already eaten tonight." Sailornyan sarcastically replied. Her patience with the gluttonous lion was stretched as thin as ever.

"It's not as good as the real thing. Trust me you're not missing out on much." Lie-in Heart assured.

"Well ramen is ramen my friend, and if there's aaany food that makes Draaagin's tummy jump for joy, it's ramen." Draaagin replied.

"Heh, I know. You didn't even think twice about digging into your seafood ramen when you got it back at the restaurant."

Katie suddenly got an idea. "Well guess what Draaagin?"

"Hmmm?"

"Springdale is home to the best ramen restaurant in the world."

"It's mediocre at best in my op-" Sailornyan said before getting cut off by Katie who picked her up while putting her hand over her mouth.

"It's called, North Wind Ramen. Their specialty is the Everything Ramen."

"Eeeverything Ramen?"

"Yeah "Eeeverything" Ramen. It's got pork, seafood, eggs-"

"Kombu seaweeed pieces? Shiitake mushrooom dashi?"

"Yep! … I think." A sweat drop appeared on the side of Katie's head.

"Katie, I can't breathe!" Sailornyan complained while her face turned blue with her voice being muffled by Katie's hand.

"Mmm, sounds like a goood time sister. Thooough, do you think could spot a dragon the cost of a bowl? Forgot my wallet and Iii can't decide if I should go get it or not."

"Oh no worries, Draaagin. It's my treat!"

"Reeeally? Lie-in Heart, my man, you sure have some greaaat friends."

"Katie, that ramen is very expensive I hear." Lie-in Heart chimed in. "Are you certain you can afford it?"

"Even it costs half of my allowance I have no choice. It's the only thing that's gonna motivate Draaagin." Explained Katie.

"Sooo sister, we gonna skedaddle or what?" asked Draaagin.

"Not so fast. I'll only buy it after you help us tomorrow."

"Mmmm, what a draaaag."

"Come on, what you have to do is easy and afterward it's ramen city!"

Lie-in Heart got up from Katie's bed, much to the pleasure of the still struggling Sailornyan, walked over to Draaagin, and offered his ramen cup. "Consider this a prosaic preview of what's to come." Lie-in Heart said.

The smell of the noodles filled Draaagin's nostrils with bliss. "Mmm, smells deeelicious." He said as he took the cup ramen and gulped the noodles down like a beverage. "Taste eeeven better! Alllright, I've made up mind. Leeet's do it!"

"Yes!" exclaimed Katie.

Draaagin handed Katie his medal. It depicted him standing with his left hand on his hip and his right hand out as if he were negotiating with someone. "Heeere's my medal, Katie. Call me wheneeever it's time for me to go to work."

"Thanks!" As Katie reached for the medal, Sailornyan was able to force herself out of her grasp.

"Alright," she heavily panted. "Now that all of this is settled can the three of you please leave the room so Katie can change into her pajamas?"

"Just give me a minute." Whisper said, still under Draaagin's influence, while picking his nose.

"Meee too." Agreed Draaagin.

"The time has not yet come for me to leave." Stated Lie-in Heart. "After everything I ate, I need to wait at least two hours before any physical activity, including walking long distances."

Sailornyan snapped and pulled out two large paper fans and started wildly flailing them around. "GET. OUT. NYOOOW! Get out get out get out!"

"Ow! Not the face!"

"Heeey, that hurts!"

"Yowch! I'm her temporary butler, you can't kick me out!"

"Eeek! Sailornyan calm down, you almost hit _me_!"

A young boy passing by Katie's house could hear the commotion coming from her room while reading a pocket-sized book, but could not see what was going on because the curtains were closed. He had green eyes and grayish messy hair wearing a blue sweater vest over a white shirt and black shorts. "So noisy." He said with an indifferent expression, followed by him snapping his fingers causing the five to suddenly collapse on the floor, or face-first onto Katie's rear in Sailornyan's case.


	14. Chapter 14

On the evening of Next HarMEOWny's concert, fans were gathered all around Gourd Park for the event, including Katie and her friends. There were vendors in the area selling all sorts of foods such as soba noodles, mochi, fried kabobs, and of course onigiri to represent Pandanoko. Others sold official Next HarMEOWny merchandise like t-shirts. Several fans were dressed in Next HarMEOWny fan attire, holding up signs and gilded fans declaring their love for the idols.

"So cool! They really went all out for this event!" exclaimed Sarah. "I still can't believe you got us passes, Katie!"

"Yeah who did you have to talk with to get these?" asked Alex. "It wasn't that rich girl from the other class, was it?"

"No no, it was Pan…" Katie began before stopping herself. She didn't want to reveal that she was friends with Pandanoko. Her eyes became small white dots and a sweat drop appeared on the side of her head while she tried to think of a lie to cover up what she said.

"Huh? Pan what?" asked Sarah.

"Pan… Pan… Fried dumplings!" Katie pointed to a vendor selling pan fried dumplings. "Pan fried dumplings over there!" She then gave Alex and Sarah some money and pushed them towards that direction. "Why don't you two go and get us some while I run to the bathroom, okay?"

Before they could say anything else, Katie took off.

"Oookay." Sarah said with confusion.

"But I wanted yakisoba." Complained Alex.

Soon, Katie was away from her friends. "Well _that_ was a close call." She then remembered something important. "Oh! Call!" She pulled out a small walkie-talkie from her back pocket. "This Hazel Eyes to Whis Cream, come in Whis Cream. Over."

"Whis Cream here, whis~." Whisper replied from the walkie-talkie.

"No Whisper, you have to say "over" when you're done talking or it doesn't work. Over."

"Sorry, whis~. And call me by my code name! Over."

"Right, sorry. So any sign of Tattlecast yet, Whis Cream? Over."

"Not yet, but I have my eyes peeled. No one gets in or out of here without me seeing. Over."

"You sound muffled for some reason. Just how high up are you? Over."

"Pretty high, but that's the point. A bird's eye view will provide more accuracy. Over"

Katie spotted from afar Whisper eating takoyaki from a vendor and talking with his mouth full. "So, how does the takoyaki taste? Over." She asked.

Whisper choked and look behind him to see Katie with an angry expression. He then gulped down what was left in his mouth. "Uh, good? Over." He replied, looking nervous.

"You're fired. Over."

"No no! I'm going in the air now, whis~!" Whisper said, frantically flailing his arms around. Whisper floated about eight feet in the air before floating back down. "Ehe. See, I can't really float that high after eating or else my stomach gets violently upset. Over."

"So I repeat, you're fired. Over."

Whisper whimpered while falling to the ground with his back turned to Katie and a blue aura shrouded him as he moved his index finger on the ground in a circular motion.

"Fortunately, I expected this to happen which is why I came up with a backup plan. Over. Hazel Eyes to Bloodsucker, come in Bloodsucker. Over."

"Bloodsucker" was Moskevil's code name. He was at Mt. Wildwood's Summit looking down at the concert from a pair of binoculars. "Bloodzzzucker here. Tattlecazzzt izzz nowhere to be zzzeen yet. Over."

"Alright well keep your eyes sharp. Also, thanks again for agreeing to help. I was worried you wouldn't after the update. Over."

"I wazzz hezzzitant at firzzzt becauzzze I didn't want to reveal who our anonymouzzz benefactor wazzz, but after your kindnezzzzzz the other day I felt obliged to show up anyway. I'm relieved that you decided I should watch over the concert from here inzzztead of being there in perzzzon. Over."

"All part of the plan! Speaking of which I need to check in with our other eye in the sky. Over. Hazel Eyes to Luna, come in Luna. Over."

"Luna" was Sailornyan's code name. She was stationed at the top of the Excellent Tower looking down at the concert from a pair of binoculars. "Luna here. No sign of Tattlecast. Just a bunch of concert goers having a good time, while unknowingly being inspirited by Yo-kai who are also having a good time. I see my ex just flipped up some poor girl's skirt. And he still wonders why we broke up. Over."

"Oh, Baddinyan's here too? Can't say I'm surprised. He's the biggest Next HarMEOWny fan I know. Over."

"Katie are you sure I shouldn't be there with you instead of up here? Like I said, I'm willing to be on the front lines if necessary. Over."

"Hey! Code names, remember? Over."

"Oh sorry! Hazel Eyes, I mean. Over."

"And no you're fine where you are. If Tattlecast saw any other Yo-kai who weren't possessing anyone, she'd immediately be suspicious. Over."

"What about you? She knows what you look like, so what if she sees you? Over."

Katie's right eye gleamed for a second. "Heh. That's why I came prepared. Over."

"Prepared how?" asked Whisper who seemed to have gotten over his sadness.

Katie then reached into her pocket and pulled out a stack of money bills in the shape of a fan.

"Gah! That's a lot of moola for a young girl to have all at once, whis~!"

"That's the power of saving up!" Katie boasted. "With this, I'll be able to put together a basic disguise so Tattlecast won't recognize me! Observe!"

Katie leaped over to a vender selling Pandanoko masks. "A Pandanoko mask to 'mask' my visage!" She went to another vendor selling Next HarMEOWny cat paw mittens. "Kitten mittens to show my love for cats!" Lastly, she went to a vendor selling fans with the idols' faces on them. "And finally, two fans with Sakura and Fiona's faces on them! With these items, there's no way Tattlecast will ever recognize me!"

"But what about your clothes?" asked Whisper. "Aren't you wearing the same clothes you wore to the café last week?"

"No Whisper, these are the clothes I've been jogging in for the past week. I wash them by hand every day. You really need to be more observant."

Whisper looked down and pushed his index fingers together. "Oh, I see."

"Hmm. Now that I think about it, since you failed to your job what you should do now is blend in with the other Yo-kai and act like you're inspiriting someone."

"Eh?"

"Though it's hard to imagine what kind of inspiriting power you'd have. The only thing you're really good at is being a know-it-all."

"Hey!"

"I mean what did you do before you were sealed away?"

Whisper began to sweat heavily. "Well… You see…"

"This is Luna to Hazel Eyes! Red alert! Red alert! Tattlecast spotted! She's on the move now! Over!" Sailornyan warned.

"Huh!? Where!? Over!" Katie asked.

"She appearzzz to be heading towardzzz the zzztage! Over!" Moskevil explained.

"But why!? The idols aren't even on there yet! Over!"

"I don't know, but I'm watching closely! Right now, she's just maneuvering by hopping on people's heads." Sailornyan chimed in. "Probably trying to make sure you aren't around to try to stop her. Over."

"That's smart, whis!" Commented Whisper.

"And if she sees Sarah and Alex, she'll know I'm here too!" worried Katie. "And they don't have disguises! How is close is she to us? Over!"

"She's actually not too far from you and is closing in, aaaaand she just stopped on a bald guy's head to take a break. Over."

"Makes sense, she is an elderly woman after all, whis~." Commented Whisper.

"All right, that gives me enough time to try and hide Sarah and Alex's identities." Katie looked at the money she had left and sighed. "So much for candy apples. Whisper, you need to hide yourself, too. I don't have enough money to buy you a disguise as well."

Whisper folded his arms. "So, you want me to steal a Pandanoko mask and some other miscellaneous souvenirs like some vagabond? I'm shocked at you, Katie."

"No! Just find some blabbermouth boasting about how much he supposedly knows about the idols when he really doesn't know squat and act like you're the cause of it! Now go, Whisper! Think of this as a chance to redeem yourself!"

Hearing that last sentence made Whisper gain a sense of responsibility. "I won't let you down this time, Katie!" He saluted with his "nostrils" flared. Afterwards, both took off in separate directions.

Katie ran back over to the vendor selling Pandanoko masks and bought two more before quickly rushing back to her friends.

"Bloodzzzucker to Hazzzel Eyezzz, Tattlecazzzt izzz on the move again!" Moskevil warned. "She'zzz moving clozzzer to your proximity! Your friendzzz are at the dango vendor to the eazzzt! Over!"

Whisper was less panicked than Katie and took his time to find the right target to pretend to inspirit.

"Oh, there has to be some nerd who thinks he knows everything around here!" He groaned.

"I know for a fact that Fiona's outfit is 100% linen." A voice said. Whisper looked in that direction to find a group of girls from Katie's class. One with glasses and plain clothes, another with pigtails and another with a side-ponytail who was the one claiming she knew certain facts about the idols.

"How do you know that?" asked the girl with pigtails.

"It's obvious. As the lead singer, she has to look the best out of all the rest of the idols, therefore her clothes have to be made with more expensive material than the other idols'. There's no mistaking it~!"

A sweat drop appeared on the back of Whisper's head as a cold chill blew in his direction.

"I guess that makes sense. You're really smart, Maya." The girl with glasses said.

"So, our know-it-all is a girl who might as well be under my influence, whis~." Whisper said as he floated next to Maya and flapped his lips in tandem with hers. Tattlecast passed them by without looking in their direction.

"And Whizzz Cream'zzz zzzsafe! Over!" announced Moskevil.

Katie ran as fast as she could without bumping into the other concert goers as Tattlecast moved closer to her and her friends.

"Luna to Hazel Eyes, she's closing in on you! Hurry! Over!"

Katie eventually spotted her friends and bolted towards them. "Guys! Look what I got us! Pandanoko masks! Here put them on! Hurry!"

Her friends looked at her strangely, but took the masks and put them on anyway. Tattlecast passed them all up without even a glance towards them.

"Phew! That was close!" Sailornyan smiled.

"You're pretty excited about this aren't you, Katie?" asked Sarah.

Katie nervously laughed. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Alex lifted up her mask to eat her dango. "Well let's save some of that excitement for the actual concert, okay? Speaking of which we should probably get to our seats now."

"Sounds good! I'll meet you guys there in a minute. I need to, uh, look around some more to make sure there's nothing else I wanna buy."

"All right suit yourself. We'll see you in a few."

As Sarah and Alex walked off, Whisper returned to Katie's side and she pulled out her walkie talkie. "Hazel Eyes to Luna, where's Tattlecast now? Over."

"Still headed to the stage. Not sure what's she planning. Over." Sailornyan replied.

Tattlecast eventually made it to seating area and took a huge leap off of the head of a person sitting in the front row into the spotlight beams.

"Woah! What an imprezzzzzzive leap!" Moskevil complimented.

"Huh?! What did she do!? Over!" asked Katie.

"She leapt into the beamzzz holding the zzzpotlightzzz. I'm no expert at zzztealth, but I believe she planzzz to ambush the idolzzz from above when they're on stage."

"Well, we're just gonna to have to keep the idols off the stage, then!"


	15. Chapter 15

Katie removed her kitten mittens and pulled a Slippery Tribe medal out of her hoodie pocket. "Yo-kai Watch Model Zero! Calling, Draaagin! Yo-kai Medal, do your thing!" She shouted as she inserted the medal into the watch and turned its dial to 1.

"Oh! Summoning time!" The watch announced.

As an instrumental of the Slippery Tribe's theme played, Draaagin slinked down the rainbow path like a slug as if he didn't want to be summoned in the first place. Then his whole demeanor changed, and he began to walk normally with confidence. However, he started slinking again before making it to the center where he decided to stand with confidence once more, ending the summoning process.

"Summoning Slippery." The watch announced as a light-blue spiral emitted from the center.

" _Draaagin_!"

"Heeey, it's Katie again." Draaagin said while lying on his side. "Is it tiiime for ramen yet?"

"Not yet, Draaagin." Katie replied. "First you have to hold up your end of the deal."

"Mmmm, what a draaag." Draaagin sighed. "Fiiine, what I have to do again?"

"You need to inspirit the idols so they won't go on stage right now. Tattlecast is hiding in the spotlights waiting for them so she can jump down and make them reveal their secrets. When they don't because of you, Tattlecast will eventually leave. Once she's out of the area, that's when you stop inspiriting the idols and the concert will go on without a hitch."

"And after that, Everything Ramen, riiight?"

"Right! So the idols should still be in their tour bus getting ready to come on stage soon. It's in the museum's parking lot right across from here. You know what to do."

"Iii'm on it!" Draaagin strolled out of the concert area and into Gourd Pond Museum's parking lot towards Next HarMEOWny's tour bus. He stood there, staring at the bus for a few minutes before holding out his right hand, pausing for a moment, then shouting, "Aaand Release!" before breathing in and then blasting an icy breath towards the bus which made it appear to be frozen solid.

"Wait, what is he doing!?" asked Sailornyan who was watching him. "He was supposed to inspirit them, not freeze them!"

"Huh!?" asked Katie.

"Not to worry," Whisper reassured. "That's just how Draaagin inspirits multiple people at once. The idols are perfectly fine, whis~."

Katie looked at Whisper to see that he was reading from the Yo-kai Pad again, so she snatched it from him. "When we get home, I'm flushing this thing down the toilet!"

"No please! I don't want to go through that again!"

"Um, Luna to Hazel Eyes," interrupted Sailornyan. "Something just occurred to me. Won't the audience get restless if Next HarMEOWny takes too long to show up on stage? I mean, what's the duration of Draaagin's power? Over."

"I… Didn't think that far ahead." Katie admitted with a sweat drop appearing on the side of her head.

"I'm baaack!" Draaagin announced. "Nooow can we go eat Everything Ramen? Pleeease?"

"Say Draaagin, how long will the idols be under your influence?"

"Considering I used my most powerful technique on them, shouuuld be only about three to six hours tops."

"What!?" Katie exclaimed as she dropped the Yo-kai Pad, alarming Whisper who quickly caught it just before it hit the ground. "That's way too long! No doubt Tattlecast will leave by then but so will the audience, and they won't be happy!"

"Sorry, buuut that's how my Soultimate Move works. The ooonly way to speed up the process is to melt the ice around the bus, which I can't."

Katie scratched her head out of irritation. "No no no! This isn't what was supposed to happen! Why didn't you tell me your Soultimate Move was the only way you could inspirit multiple people and that it took a long time to wear off!?"

"Weeell, why didn't you ask?"

"I could've told you but..." Whisper passive-aggressively added as he wiped the Yo-kai Pad's screen.

Katie groaned. This whole ordeal was giving her a stress headache. "Man, if only I could summon Blazion right now." She pondered for a few seconds before coming up with another idea, though she wasn't too confident in this one. "I guess, it's up to you Whisper."

"Whis~!? But what can I do?" he asked. "I don't have any fire powers!"

"I know, but you're all I have so just find and use whatever you can. It may seem pointless, but you have to try anyway. I need to go check in with my friends now. I'm counting on you!"

Whisper nodded with a confident "whis" as Katie ran towards the seating area, but truthfully his stomach was overrun with butterflies. He had no idea how he was going to unfreeze the bus on his own.

"Sooo, I guess it's still not time for Everything Ramen, huh?" asked Draaagin as he began to lay across the ground. "Mmmm, what a draaag."

Katie ran down to the section where her friends were seated. "Hey guys, I'm back!"

"Nice. Well the idols haven't gone on stage yet, so you didn't miss anything." Sarah replied.

"Say, do you know why people are giving me and Sarah weird looks?" asked Alex. "Did we do something wrong?"

Katie looked around the crowd and saw some familiar faces from Café Shanista. Those same people who heard Sarah and Alex reveal their secrets at the café last week were there in the audience, judging them. This bothered Katie to no end, but in typical fashion she did her best to hide the truth. "Oh, those are probably just some superfans upset that you aren't wearing a shirt with their favorite idol on it or something. Don't pay them any mind."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Alex smiled.

Meanwhile, Whisper floated in front of the frozen tour bus at a loss of what to do about it. "Oh, I don't want to disappoint Katie, but what does she expect me to do about this?"

"Why don't you try putting some of that hot air of yours to good use for once? Over." joked Sailornyan.

"Oh, shut up!" Whisper didn't want to admit it, but Sailornyan might have been on to something. So he took in deep breaths and exhaled puffs of hot air all around the tour bus.

Sailornyan looked at him with disbelief. "Wow. I didn't think he would actually…"

"The crowd izzz zzztarting to get agitated." Acknowledged Moskevil. "If he doezzzn't hurry I predict an unfavorable outcome will occur. It would look very bad for Next HarMEOWny to not show up after their fanzzz paid all that money to attend their concert. Over"

"You're absolutely right, Bloodsucker. Therefore, I'm leaving my post to go help him since I'm closer to the concert, so you need to be extremely attentive now. Over."

"By myzzzelf? Oh dear, thizzz izzz what I get for not pulling my own weight earlier."

"What?"

"Nothing! I'll keep a good watch!"

Sailornyan ran towards the elevator, but had to wait for it to come all the way up. "Come on come on come on!"

Back at the concert, many fans were getting tired of waiting for Next HarMEOWny to show up, though Katie's friends were more concerned than impatient.

"What's taking them so long?" asked Sarah. "I hope none of them got sick."

"Yeah that wouldn't be good for anyone." Alex fretted. She then noticed Katie sweating, twiddling her thumbs and shaking her legs. "Um Katie, are you okay? You're not coming down with anything are you?"

Katie laughed with her left arm behind her head. "No no of course not! I'm just a little anxious is all."

"I hear ya, it's not like Next HarMEOWny to be late like this. What if something really did happen?"

"Why don't I go ask someone at the concessions what's going on? Be right back!" Katie got up awkwardly walked away from her friends who were still receiving glares from people who recognized them from Café Shanista, causing them to put their Pandanoko masks back on out of embarrassment.

Seconds later, Katie was back at her starting point. "Why is nothing going right tonight?" she groaned as she pulled out her walkie-talkie. "Hazel Eyes to Luna, please give me some good news. Over."

"Luna here, I'm on my way to help the butler thaw out the bus, but don't worry Bloodsucker is still keeping an eye on things." Sailornyan replied as she was riding down the Excellent Tower's slow-moving elevator. "Unfortunately, the elevator at the Excellent Tower wasn't exactly built for emergencies."

Katie sighed. "I said give me some good news. You leaving your post is not good news."

"Well I mean Bloodsucker only has the stage to watch this time, so it's not that bad. If Tattlecast goes on the move again he'll be sure to let you know."

"I guess. Just please hurry."

"Tell that to the elevator."

As the crowd grew more impatient, so did Tattlecast. "Tell tell? (Where are those darn idols?) Tell tell! (They should've been on stage 30 minutes ago!)" she thought to herself. "Tell tell. (There's no way another Yo-kai dared to mess with them, not after that update I put out yesterday.) Tell tell. (Plus, I didn't see that Katie Forester girl anywhere around here.)" She sat for a few minutes before getting restless. "Tell tell. (Still, I'd better go look around to make sure nothing funny is going on.)" Tattlecast jumped down from the spotlight beams and started hopping on the audience's heads again back to the concessions.

"Bloodzzzucker to Hazzzel Eyezzz, Tattlecazzzt izzz on the move again! She'zzz leaping her way to your location! Over!"

"Of course she is." Katie facepalmed. "And of course I left my mittens and fan merch in my seat. Buying more would be a waste even if I did have enough money."

"Hold on, Hazel Eyes! I'm on my way!" Sailornyan assured as she ran out of the Excellent Tower.

"No, Sailornyan. Go help Whisper. Knowing him, he might be ready to give up pretty soon."

"But what about you!? You can't stop Tattlecast on your own!"

"Do you see any other options here? If Whisper tries to thaw out the bus on his own, the concert won't happen and Next HarMEOWny's reputation goes down the drain anyway."

As she said this, Whisper was trying to thaw the bus out with two battery-operated hair dryers, a futon spread across it similar to a kotatsu, and a bonfire.

"And if Moskevil leaves his post to come help me, he could get possessed too and that wouldn't be fair to him." Katie continued.

"She hazzz a point." Moskevil unconcernedly chimed in.

"The same goes for you, Sailornyan. It's better if Tattlecast only possesses me instead of you all and Next HarMEOWny."

"Katie…" Sailornyan said in a saddened tone.

"I'll be fine. Hazel Eyes out." Katie put her walkie-talkie in her hoodie pocket and folded her arms. There was nothing else she could do but wait for the inevitable. When Tattlecast eventually made it to her, they both starred each other down before saying anything.

"Hello, Tattlecast. Remember me?"

"Tell tell. (Katie Forester.) Tell tell. (At last we finally meet.) Tell tell. (You've been a real thorn in my side lately, and I'm sure you're somehow responsible for Next HarMEOWny's delayed performance which tells me you're not alone.) Tell tell. (I'm guessing whatever Yo-kai helped you has already gone into hiding.) Tell tell. (How disappointing.) Tell tell. (But, perhaps once they hear you spilling all of your secrets on stage, they'll muster up the courage to come try to save you.)"

"You know I can't understand a single word you said, right?"

Angered, Tattlecast jumped behind Katie and jacked in one of her speakers to the back of her neck.

"Next HarMEOWny! Next HarMEOWny! Next HarMEOWny!" the crowd chanted as their impatience flared up.

"I kind of wanna go home now." Sarah said while shaking in fear.

"Where's Katie already?" asked Alex.

"Here I am!" she shouted loudly, attracting everyone's attention.


	16. Chapter 16

The crowd stared at Katie as she walked down the steps to the front of the stage.

"I just want you all to know," she began. "That I can talk to Yo-kai and I'm personal friends with Pandanoko!"

The crowd talked amongst themselves after hearing that.

"What?"

"Yo-kai?"

"Those folklore creatures?"

"I think she's lying."

"Is this part of the show?"

"Maybe she's here to tell us what's going on."

Katie's friends looked at her in utter confusion.

"Katie? What are you doing?" asked Sarah.

"Is she trying to play crowd control or something?" asked Alex.

"Hey! Do you know what's taking the idols so long!?" someone from the crowd asked.

"Yes!" Katie began while smiling. "They're under the power of a Yo-kai named Draaagin who used his powers to make them postpone their performance so another Yo-kai named Tattlecast wouldn't reveal their secrets, but don't worry! My Yo-kai friends Whisper and Sailornyan have got it all under control!"

The crowd was starting to believe Katie was just some crazy fangirl looking for attention.

"Yo-kai? Tattlecast? Whisper? Draaagin? Sailornyan?" Sarah asked, looking more concerned for her best friend than ever.

"How… interesting." Commented Alex.

"Tell tell. (I knew it, you _were_ responsible for the delay.)" Tattlecast deducted while standing on Katie's shoulders and holding her tape recorder to her mouth. "Tell tell. (No matter.) Tell tell. (After your friends free Next HarMEOWny, my plan will proceed as normal.)

Tell tell. (You're just a bonus.) Tell tell. (After revealing you can talk to Yo-kai everyone is starting to think you're nuts, including your friends.) Tell tell? (In fact, I wonder what kind of embarrassing secrets you're keeping between each other?)"

"Look whoever you are, we've been waiting for over an hour so if you know what's going on then tell us!" another person demanded.

"Oh, I know lots of things." Katie began "Like I know how my cute friend Sarah Hayashi over there secretly owns…"

Sarah's eyes widened as she began to blush. "Katie… You wouldn't." She thought to herself. "You said you would keep that between us! I only bought that Next HarMEOWny photobook for fashion reference! Nothing more! If anyone else found out, they might get the wrong idea!"

As Katie was about to reveal Sarah's secret, her face began twitching and her forced smile began to break. "Owns… a… rare Pandanoko plush! The kind that goes for an insane amount of cash on bidding websites!" She quickly revealed, breathing heavily afterward.

The crowd looked at Sarah in shock.

"Impossible!"

"You had to pre-order months in advance to get those!"

"Lucky girl."

"Oh, that." Sarah nervously chuckled with a blank expression on her face. "Yeah. Ordering six months ahead was a smart move."

"Tell tell!? (What!?) Tell tell! (That's not embarrassing at all!)" scolded Tattlecast. "Tell tell! (I'm actually kind of mad because I wanted one of those plushes!) Tell tell? (What about the one in the hat?)"

Tattlecast's speaker sent a jolt of electricity to Katie's neck which pepped her back up. "And next to her, my other friend Alex Yamaguchi is a karateka, and did you know during her last tournament…"

Alex's eyes turned completely white out of fear as beads of sweat rapidly ran down her face. "Katie don't you dare bring that up!" She thought to herself. "So what if I had to forfeit the final round because I had to do number two? Having an accident on stage after taking a kick to the stomach would've been even worse! How was I supposed to know the milk I had for breakfast was spoiled!?"

As Katie was about to reveal Alex's secret, her face began twitching and her forced smile began to break again. "She… for…got her own her strength during the breaking portion and accidentally broke one of the cinderblocks after chopping the wooden planks! She's really strong! Strongest girl I know actually!" She quickly revealed again, this time breathing heavier afterward.

The crowd then began to talk about Alex in high regard.

"That's amazing."

"And she's so young too."

"I'd hate to get in a fight with her."

Alex blushed from the praise she was receiving. "Aww shucks, Katie. You're makin' me turn all reddish now."

"Tell tell!? (What are you doing!?)" Tattlecast angrily asked. "Tell tell!? (What kind of embarrassing secrets are these!?)"

"You aren't gonna beat me that easily you old hag." Katie quietly replied with her teeth clenched.

"Tell tell. (I see.) Tell tell. (You've got more willpower than I thought.) Tell tell. (Well desperate times call for desperate measures I suppose.)"

Tattlecast grabbed the jack of her second speaker and inserted into the back of Katie's neck, next to the other one. Katie head hung low and she began to lose consciousness as she could barely stand upright.

"Tell tell. (I've never had to use both my speakers for a single person before, but you're quite the special case, Katie Forester.) Tell tell. (Try to resist now!)"

"H-hey, are you alright?" someone asked.

Katie looked up smiling with her eyes closed. "Totally! Say, have I ever told about you the time I was possessed by the Yo-kai Cheeksqueek?"

"Again with the Yo-kai?" asked Sarah.

"How long can she keep this up?" worried Alex.

"For crying out loud where is Next HarMEOWny!?" asked another person.

As Katie told her story, Sailornyan continued rushing to Gourd Pond Museum's parking lot to assist Whisper, though she wasn't really enjoying the exercise. "Nya~, I'm starting to sweat because of all this."

"We've got trouble." Moskevil warned over the walkie talkie.

"Drat! I feel like I don't have to ask what it is."

"Well whatever she'zzz told them zzzo far muzzzt not have been too embarrazzzzzzing and they're calm for now, but I feel it'zzz only a matter of time before she revealzzz zzzomething truly shameful."

"I won't allow that to happen! I'm nearing the parking lot as we speak."

Back in the concert area, the audience were having mixed reactions to Katie's Cheeksqueek story.

"Oookay then."

"I mean I know it's a normal bodily function but…"

"Ew."

"I actually remember the day that happened. I just… can't believe she'd bring it up at a time like this. Or ever." Sarah said while feeling embarrassed for her friend.

"Telling such stories just to stop the crowd from rioting. Katie's got more stones than any of the boys in our class." Chimed in Alex.

"There are other Yo-kai who don't have any special powers like Manjimutt, who just serve as a hinderance to society!" Katie continued.

In his cell at the Springdale jailhouse, Manjimutt suddenly sneezed. "Someone's talkin' about me."

"He made me late for my get-together with my friends at Café Shanista last week and because of that, Alex made me buy her Royal Pancakes which left me with only enough money to buy plain cheesecake when I really wanted raspberry cheesecake. She's done this kind of stuff before when I was late for our meetups and I've never appreciated it. Nor do I appreciate the fact that she and Sarah both think I'm fat. Well I'll have you both know that I lost five pounds this week so now I only weigh…"

A truck passing by the concert blew its horn at a cat that luckily avoided getting hit, so no one outside of the concert area could hear how much Katie weighed.

"…pounds!"

Alex and Sarah gasped as people in the crowd conversed with each other.

"Wow, her own friends told her she was fat?"

"That's still kind of a lot for someone her age."

"Not cool, Alex."

"But… we didn't say… How did she?" stammered Sarah.

"Don't look at me, I never said anything to her about it." Alex replied as her eyes got watery. "But man, I didn't know she felt that way about buying stuff for me."

Tattlecast chuckled. "Tell tell. (A maiden's weight is supposed to be sacred, yet everyone in the audience now knows yours.) Tell tell. (And after tonight, so will the entire Yo-kai World.)"

In the Gourd Pond Museum parking lot, Whisper was attempting to thaw out the bus with two large tanning lamps plugged into a generator. "Come on, thaw out already! Please!" he begged. The lamps were turned up to their maximum settings and because of this, unknowingly to him, the ultraviolet rays from the lamps were causing his skin to darken and bake as if he were in a microwave oven.

"Step aside, butler!" Sailornyan shouted as she ran towards him with two containers resembling salt shakers.

"Whis~? Sailornyan? You left your post?"

"Yes, because we don't have all night for you and your shenanigans! Now, I've got two Yo-kai repellants here meant for Slush and Alhail. Since both Yo-kai are made of ice, these repellants should have the same effect on Draaagin's ice as it does on them."

"But that just looks like regular, everyday salt."

"Well it's not! …I think. Listen, while I take care of this, you need to get your toasted tuckus to the concert and break Katie free from Tattlecast's control!"

"Tattlecast inspirited Katie!? I'll rescue her, whis~! But where'd that "toasted tuckus" comment come from?" Whisper started to smell something burning. "Hey, what's cooking?"

"You are, stupid."

Whisper's antenna suddenly caught on fire and he flew towards the concert area screaming in pain.

"Honestly, how does a pea-brain like that become _anyone's_ butler?" Sailornyan asked herself as she poured the repellant around the bus.

"So that's why you definitely don't wanna get possessed by a Yo-kai like Failian at a potluck party!" Katie said after finishing yet another story, to the dismay of the audience and her friends.

"I remember that too. Even after saying "kidding!" nobody wanted to eat her mom's miso soup after she said it had spider eggs in it." Sarah groaned.

"Tell tell. (Alright, enough embarrassing Yo-kai moments.) Tell tell? (How about something personal again, like who you're in love with maybe?)" Tattlecast inquired.

"By the way, this is kind of embarrassing, but I'd like to tell you all who I'm madly in love with! They're not in the audience, but I wanna say it anyway! Heck, just thinking about them makes me blush."

This time Katie really got the crowd's undivided attention. Stories about Yo-kai making her do embarrassing things was one thing, but learning who stole the heart of this eccentric 11-year-old girl was another.

"I-is it really okay for her to reveal something like that here?" Alex asked while blushing.

"I mean even if they're not in audience…" Sarah replied while also blushing.

"And yet, I kinda wanna know myself."

"Tell tell. (This is it, Katie Forester.)" Tattlecast said while deviously smiling under her face veil. "Tell tell. (The only thing more embarrassing than a young girl revealing her weight in front of a large crowd is also revealing who she's infatuated with.) Tell tell. (Consider this ultimate payback for interfering with me and my podcast.)" Tattlecast then noticed a large ball of fire headed straight for them. "Tell tell? (What the tell?)"

The ball of fire was Whisper whose entire body caught on fire. "PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!"

"They're the most beautiful person I've ever met, and I actually hope we can get married someday." Katie continued.

"I'M GOING TO DIE!"

Tattlecast jumped on top of Katie's head with both her speakers while moving her from side to side, signaling for Whisper to stop. "Tell tell! (Stop you fool!) Tell tell! (You'll burn us both!)"

"Their name is…" Katie continued with every staring intently at her, waiting for the reveal.

"BURNING!" Whisper shouted.

"TELL TELL! (STOP!)" Tattlecast yelled.

"Me-" Katie started before Whisper crashed into Tattlecast, knocking her and her speakers off Katie's head. Whisper continued flying and landed right in the river.

After getting singed by Whisper, Tattlecast struggled to get up only to see her speakers disconnected from Katie's neck and burning up along with her tape recorder. "TELL TELL! (NOOOO!) TELL TELL! (MY BABIES!)" She cried.


	17. Chapter 17

With Tattlecast's equipment destroyed, Katie became free of her control. "Hmm? What happened? Where's Tattlecast? Why am I in front of the stage!?"

"Me-who?" someone from the crowd asked.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"You were just about to tell us who you were in love with, but you just said 'Me' and never finished."

Katie blushed. "Eh!? Why would I tell you all something like tha-" Katie then came to a realization as her eyes turned white with fear. " _Oh no! What did that hag make me say!?_ " she thought to herself. "Um… See… The thing is…"

"Sorry to keep you waiting everyone!" a voice coming from the stage announced, cutting off Katie.

Katie turned around as the crowd cheered loudly to see all the idols from Next HarMEOWny and Pandanoko onstage.

"We had some minor issues, but it's all been resolved so now we're here to make you smile!" The lead singer, Fiona explained. "Are you ready?"

The crowd let out an even louder cheer as the music to _Idol Wa Ooh-Nya-Nya-Nya No Ken_ began to play. Katie put her hand on her chest and let out a sigh of relief as she went back to her friends who were caught up in the excitement of the concert to even notice her return at first. Back by the now unfrozen tour bus, Sailornyan wiped her forehead knowing that everything was okay now.

"Well, needlezzzzzz to zzzay, mission accomplished." Moskevil said over the walkie-talkie.

"Uh huh!" Sailornyan replied. "And the best part is that there were no casualties!"

"Well, I wouldn't zzzay that." Moskevil replied while looking at Whisper who was floating down the river with X's in his eyes and his body resembling a toasted marshmallow and then at the pile of ashes that used to be Tattlecast's equipment. "By the way, that repellant you have. Izzz it really juzzzt zzzalt?"

"I highly doubt Goldenyan would sell me a common everyday mineral in the guise of a Yo-kai repellant… Then again, it wouldn't hurt to check." Sailornyan sprinkled a little of both repellant on her paw and licked it. "Hmm, well it is definitely salt, but it doesn't quite taste like the kind you would ea-" Suddenly, Sailornyan's face turned completely red as her eyes became bloodshot, smoke came out of her ears, and she began sweating profusely.

"HOT!" she exclaimed after jumping up and breathing fire. Afterward, she ran straight for the Everymart in the area, screaming in pain.

"Now there are three cazzzualtiezzz. Perhapzzz I should go home in cazzze of a fourth."

…

As the concert came to a close, Fiona apologized for the group being late once again and made a special announcement. "In order to atone for our tardiness today, everyone in the audience will be able to attend a private handshaking event at the grand opening of Café la Gomme in Shopper's Row tomorrow at noon! Just bring proof of your attendance to tonight's concert and we'll see you there! Goodnight!"

The crowd cheered, even though none of them had heard of such a café getting ready to open. Afterward, everyone started to clear out of the concert area, including Katie and her friends.

"Café la Gomme? Never heard of it." Puzzled Katie.

"Me neither. Not even in my fashion magazines, and they're usually on top of all the latest and upcoming cafes." Sarah added. "You, Alex?"

"Nope, but it sounds fancy!" she replied. "Can't wait to see what kind of food they have."

"That reminds me, Katie while you were telling your stories, you said Alex and I thought you were fat. Where'd you get that from?"

Katie froze in her tracks. The Yo-kai excuse may have worked earlier, but there was no way she could use it now without them thinking she was legitimately insane. "Uh… Well…"

"Because neither of us think you're fat. It's just sometimes we hear girls from other classes talk about how big your… er, posterior is and say how you might get fat by high school."

"But not us. We think you and your butt are fine." Alex chimed in, then blushing and looking the other way after realizing what she said. "Eh, that last part didn't come out right."

Katie giggled. "It's fine. Well I'm glad we cleared that up. Still, I'll try my best to stay fit so they can eat their words by high school!"

"Nah, do it for you, not them. They're probably just jealous, anyway. Besides you'll always have things they never will."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Nerves of steel and amazing creativity! Seriously where'd you come up with that stuff about Yo-kai and Draaagin and all that?"

"How'd you muster up the courage to talk about those embarrassing moments from the past in front of so many people, plus your weight and almost revealing the person you were in love with?" asked Sarah.

Alex gave Katie a doubtful look while getting close to her face. "Are you really friends with Pandanoko?"

"Hey hey, one question at a time." Katie giggled while blushing. After having some time to think, she was able to put together a lie to hide the fact that she really could communicate with Yo-kai. "I just didn't want our night to get ruined by angry people, so I lied about being friends with Pandanoko and used Yo-kai as an excuse for the idols being late so the audience would calm down a bit. My mom used to tell me stories about Yo-kai when I was a little girl so that's how I knew so much about them and was also able to relate them to events that happened to me in the past. Though I started to run out of material after a while, so I began to talk about personal stuff too, even if it was embarrassing. That's all."

"Well that took a lot of guts and this has certainly been a night to remember." Alex smiled. "This is why I like hanging out with you. You're a real interesting person and life with you is fun." Alex's eyes started to water again as tears rolled down her face while she tried her best to hold them back. "So, I'm sorry that I've been such a burden to you all those times" -her voice choked- "Especially after you said such a nice thing about me back there."

"No no Alex don't cry!" Katie pled as she hugged her weeping friend. "You're not a burden at all! I mean making me buy stuff for you like that is kind of a pain, but if I was _that_ annoyed by it we wouldn't even be standing here right now. We're friends until the end and nothing is going to change that. As long as we all get to spend time with each other, that's what really matters."

Alex sniffed, and her smile returned while she blushed. "Right. Thanks, Katie. I don't ever wanna risk not getting another hug like this again, so I'll stop with the tall orders from now on."

Sarah smiled with her eyes closed as her two friends became closer. Suddenly, her cellphone beeped in her handbag and she pulled it out to see why it did. "Oh no! I'm late for dinner! I gotta run you guys! Talk to you later!"

"See ya!" smiled Alex as she wiped her eyes with her arm.

"Bye!" said Katie

"I better split too, Katie. Thanks for another fun outing!"

"Sure thing, Alex! Can't wait to do it again at the new café next week!"

"Same! Buh-bye!"

"Bye!"

As Katie's human friends left her, her Yo-kai friends showed up by her side.

"Thumi!" Sailornyan exclaimed as she ran towards her holding a carton of milk with her tongue stuck out. "Thank goodneth you're okay! You bon't mow how worrie I wath abou you thacing a Yo-kai like Tattlecath, alone."

"Uh, Sailornyan? Why are you talking like that? I can't really understand what you're saying. Did you bite your tongue or something?"

"Thothe two "thkepticth" mabe me doupt that the repellant I utheduh wath jutht orthinary thalt, tho I mathe the grave mithtake of trying it."

As she talked she would occasionally spit in Katie's direction. "Ew! Could you say it, not spray it please?"

"Bazzzically, she'zzz glad you're zzzafe, Katie and zzzo am I." Moskevil said over her walkie-talkie.

"Yeah I was kind of nervous to be honest. I can't remember the last time I dealt with a Yo-kai without the help of any others since I first got the watch. I was able to resist her until she plugged her second speaker into my neck. I don't know how I got free but I'm glad I did given what my friends said I revealed."

"You're welcome, whis~." A voice from beside Katie said. She and Sailornyan looked to see Whisper with his body resembling a toasted marshmallow, which alarmed them both.

"Kya! What happened to you!?" Katie screamed.

"So apparently you _aren't_ supposed to stay under tanning lights for a long period of time."

"What?"

"He got burned while trying to thaw out the buzzz." Moskevil cleared up. "Really it wazzz Zzzailornyan who did it with her repellant."

Sailornyan smugly nodded with her paws on her hips.

"Um, I helped!" Whisper shouted. "That ice would've never melted as fast as it did if it weren't for my help!"

"But I didn't zzzee the ice melt much when you were doing it."

"Then you must need glasses then, whis~!"

"Hey hey, the bottom line is you all did a great job tonight." Laughed Katie. "If I didn't run out of money I would buy you all treats."

"It wazzz my pleasure, Katie." Moskevil replied over the walkie-talkie. "No reward izzz necezzzzzzary. Bezzzidezzz, I have already had the ultimate treat. I dezzzire nothing elzzze."

"All I want is a cold bath, whis~." Whisper added.

"Anduh all I want ith a goob night thleep." Sailornyan yawned.

"Well at least you three aren't hard to please." Katie chuckled before remembering something important. "However…"

"Heeey guys!" Draaagin greeted while holding a bowl of yakisoba. "Concert's over, sooo let's go eat Everything Ramen now."

"I did make a promise to someone. So where'd you run off to earlier, Draaagin?"

"Well I kiiinda got tired of waiting to go eat Everything Ramen so I settled for Everything Yakisoba. Nooot as satisfying I have to say."

Sailornyan looked at the dragon with disdain. "You thtole thothe, didn't you?"

"Aaactually I got them out of the garbage."

All three friends made sounds of disgust after hearing that.

"The garbage zzztench addzzz potency. You should try it." Moskevil commented.

"You both are disguthting!" yelled Sailornyan.

Katie suddenly spotted Tattlecast walking away, dragging her arms with her head hung low.

"Hey, Tattlecast!" Katie shouted. "Wait up!"

Sailornyan choked on her milk. "Nya~?"

"Katie, w-wait!" Whisper stammered.

"Aww man, It's stiiill not time?" Draaagin whined. "Mmmm, what a draaag."


	18. Chapter 18

Tattlecast looked back at Katie and her friends for a few seconds before turning her head again.

"Hey, I wanna talk to you." Asserted Katie.

"Tell tell." Tattlecast replied.

"Uh, Whisper?"

"Whis~? Oh, right! She doesn't seem to want to us talk right now." Whisper translated. "We did ruin her career after all."

Katie put her hands on her hips, looking at the tiny long-armed crone with anger. "Well now you should know how the Sun Pavilion chef and every other person whose careers you've destroyed in the past feel! But what I wanna know is, why did you go around making people reveal their secrets like that in public in the first place. Don't you know how awful that is?"

Tattlecast didn't respond.

"Well, do you?"

Tattlecast still didn't respond.

Katie shook her head. "Let's go guys. If she doesn't want to own up to her mistakes like an adult, then that's on her."

As Katie and her friends began to walk away, they heard a "tell tell" come from behind them.

"Hmm? What was that?" Katie asked as she turned around.

"I believe she said "technology." Is that true, Tattlecast?" asked Whisper.

"Tell tell. (Yeah.)" She replied. "Tell tell. (No one knows this, but when I was alive I used to have technophobia.)"

"Oooh, I feel ya sister, I feel ya." Draaagin chimed in.

"Technology can be frightening for the elderly and untrained." Sailornyan commented, regaining the ability to speak properly again after finishing her milk.

"Tell tell. (When I became a Yo-kai I thought things would be different, but I was wrong.) Tell tell! (Cars, computers, mobile phones, the Yo-kai Watches, it's like technology dominates the Yo-kai World as much as it does this one!)"

"I have said that Yo-kai are no different than humans on more than one occasion." Katie nervously grinned.

"Tell tell? (I had no choice to but to adapt to this technologically driven society, but how?) Tell tell. (The only electronic device I owned and wasn't afraid to use in my lifetime was a radio so maybe I could've done a radio talk show, but with the rise of devices with Bluetooth capabilities that allowed users to connect their phones and tablets to play media off of them at any time, it was clear those were becoming a thing of the past.) Tell tell. (If I was going to be a spirit for the rest of eternity then living in the past was not an option, so I taught myself everything I needed to know about modern technology.)

Tell tell. (I learned about computers, certain file types, audio devices, pretty much whatever was dominating the market at the time, I educated myself about it.) Tell tell. (I had to find something to do that was still relevant and not dying out, then one day while reading about mobile applications, I discovered something that was like a radio talk show, but you could play it on any device that supported it wherever you wanted, whenever you wanted.)

Tell Tell. (It was amazing). Tell tell. (It should be obvious what that thing was, and I thought to myself, "I can do that.") Tell tell? (But how?) Tell tell? (What could I talk about that isn't already being talked about?) Tell tell. (Then I remembered how my friends and I used to gossip a lot when we were younger, so I decided on a gossip podcast since there weren't many of those floating around.)

Tell tell. (That day I went out and bought everything I needed to get started, even got two free loudspeakers for spending so much money at the electronics store.) Tell tell… Tell tell. (I was so excited about getting this dream of mine off the ground, then I realized… I had no material)."

"Oof. A rookie mistake at its finest." Commented Katie.

"Tell tell? (How and where would I get some?) Tell tell. (I felt like I wouldn't be too popular with the other Yo-kai if I went after their secrets, so I chose humans instead. It's only natural for Yo-kai to meddle with humans, right?)"

"Aaamen." Draaagin agreed.

"Tell tell. (So the next day I ventured into the human world, taking my speakers with me for protection, to find some likely candidates.) Tell tell. (Unfortunately, I soon found out that humans have become incredibly pretentious with one another nowadays.) Tell tell. (It's like no one is honest anymore and pretends to be someone they're not, especially those who work in business.) Tell tell. (One salaryman I stuck around to see if he would let something slip out annoyed me so much with how much of a phony he was, that I took the jack to one of my speakers and jabbed him in the back of his neck out of frustration while he was trying to strike a contract with another company.)

Tell tell. (That's when it happened, he started blurting out not only secrets that his company kept from the other one, but secrets from home as well.) Tell tell. (I was so amazed that I almost forgot to record it all for the podcast.)"

"THAT's why we could only hear half of it!" Sailornyan pointed out.

"Tell tell. (And when I got home that day, The Tattlecast was born.) Tell tell. (Because of it, I was no longer some old bag who was out of touch with technology.) Tell tell. (I had truly found my place in the technological society.) Tell, tell. (Now, it looks like it's back to the old rocking chair for me.)"

After he finished translating, Whisper began to cry. "I shouldn't feel this bad, but I do! Poor Tattlecast!"

"So, it wasn't out of malice after all." Deducted Katie. "You were only doing this to keep up with the information age in a way that didn't make you feel overwhelmed. But you know, you can still do so without ruining other people's lives and careers. I listened to the latest episode of your podcast last week and I enjoyed the first part of the show where you talked about rumors in the Yo-kai World. Those were all in good fun and weren't harmful to anyone. Still, sometimes rumors can get out of hand but I'm mainly talking about stories like Sergeant Burly searching for Yo-kai to build his team and Bruff opening up a dojo.

Doing a podcast where you talk about those kinds of stories that can really benefit your listeners. Heck, you can even talk about the latest advances in technology since you're knowledgable in that area. You don't have to give up podcasting, just talk about something that isn't harmful to others."

"Tell tell." Tattlecast replied.

"Whisper could you please stop crying so you can translate for me?"

"But it's so sad!" Whisper blubbered.

"Oy vey." Sailornyan facepalmed. "She said if she does that then she'd lose years of supporters for doing something new. When you have a working formula, people expect you to stick with it. Detracting from that formula would mean alienating her fans. Besides, it's been a long time since she started podcasting so there's bound to be at least a hundred podcasts like that now. She'd be jumping on a bandwagon if anything."

"But you just said you were doing this for you!" Katie brought up. "Look, finding popularity with something you love doing is nice and all but once you start chasing after it, you begin to lose sight of why you started doing that thing in the first place. Eventually it gets to the point where what you loved has now become a source of stress and that's a terrible feeling."

Tattlecast sighed. If her career getting destroyed wasn't bad enough, now she was getting lectured by someone many years younger than her. The worst part was, everything she was saying was the truth.

"So you've hit a bump in the road, that's okay. Everyone does. How are you going to press on is the question? Are you going to do the same thing over again and expect different results, or are you going learn from this experience and try something new? You have a ton of wit and charisma, Tattlecast. Don't let that go to waste by giving up entirely."

Tattlecast finally turned around. "Tell tell? (Do you really think that, Katie Forester?) Tell tell? (Is there really a chance that I can try something new without losing too many fans and getting accused of jumping on a bandwagon?)"

Katie smiled. "It's worth a shot! Losing a few fans by doing something new is better than losing all of them by doing nothing at all, right? Besides, you have three longtime fans here who will stick with you no matter what you try, long as it isn't malicious."

"Nya-huh!" nodded Sailornyan. "I've been a fan of yours ever since discovering the podcast and I've stuck with you through the good times and bad. This is no different!"

Whisper ceased his blubbering. "You definitely won't lose me, whis~!"

"I will continue to zzztand by you and I'm certain zzzo will everyone in my community." Moskevil confirmed over the walkie-talkie.

"Aaand provided I decide it's time to purchase an electronic device, I'll start supporting ya too, sister." Draaagin chimed in.

No one could see because of her face veil, but Tattlecast smiled after hearing all the encouraging words. "Tell tell. (Thank you everyone.) Tell tell. (I promise I'll do better and won't let any of you down.) Tell tell. (Especially you, Katie Forester.) Tell tell. (Thanks for helping me remember why I even started doing this in the first place.)"

Tattlecast began to glow and her Yo-kai Medal appeared from her hair bun and flew into Katie's hands. The medal depicted her holding both of her speakers (when they were still intact) as they blasted sound at max volume.

"Awesome! Another medal!" exclaimed Katie.

"That's not just "another medal", Katie!" angrily corrected Whisper while getting in Katie's face, making her uncomfortable. "That's Tattlecast's medal! You're friends with a celebrity now! Take it more seriously!"

Katie covered her nose. "Eugh, could you not float so close to me? You may look like a toasted marshmallow, but you don't smell like one! Besides, in case you forgot I'm already friends with Hanako-san who's also a celebrity last I checked, first of all. Two, just because she and Tattlecast are celebrities doesn't mean I have to put them on a higher pedestal than my other friends."

"Tell tell. (I don't expect you to either.)" She replied. "Tell tell. (You're the first human I met who's not a pretentious windbag, Katie Forester.) Tell tell. (Just don't be afraid to speak your mind from now on.)"

"Will do, Tattlecast! By the way, now that we're friends, just call me Katie. Okay?"

"Tell tell! (Sure thing, Katie!) Tell tell. (Well I should get going.) Tell tell. (I've gotta break the news to everyone that big changes are coming to The Tattlecast sooner or later.) Tell tell! (Goodbye friends!)"

"Bye-bye!" Katie and the others shouted as Tattlecast hopped away.

"Sooo, now that that's all out of the way, I assume Everything Ramen is next on our list?" asked Draaagin.

Sweat drops appeared on the left corner of Katie's forehead. "Actually Draaagin, I just realized it's almost dark and I kinda don't wanna be out during Oni Time so… Can we go tomorrow after NyaKB's handshaking event?" she asked while smiling nervously.

Draaagin put his finger on his chin. "Hmm, now that I think about it, maaaybe now's not such a good time after all. Especially since the yakisoba's nooot getting along with my tummy." -he dry heaved- "'Scuse me!"

Draaagin ran towards the nearest waste bin while the others looked at him disgust.

"Well, there'zzz cazzzualty number four. Thizzz hazzz been Bloodzzzucker, over and out."

"So, who's ready to go home?" asked Katie.

Both Whisper and Sailornyan nodded in agreement.

"Whis~."

"Nya~."


	19. Chapter 19

Back at the Forester residence, Katie and Sailornyan were getting ready for bed.

"Ahh, what a night!" Katie yawned as she plopped down on her bed, spreading her arms and legs across the mattress for maximum comfort.

"You said it!" Sailornyan agreed while pushing something resembling a tall wheeled hat rack in the corner of Katie's balcony door. "You saved the concert, your friendships, and the secrets of any future victims of Tattlecast all in one night! You should be proud!"

"Oh come on, you know I couldn't've done it without you guys. I don't deserve all the credit."

"Perhaps, but you _were_ the mastermind behind the whole plan, so you do deserve most of it. Especially for the idea of carrying it out secret agent style! That was oodles of fun!"

"For you maybe. I was stressed out the entire time. And I can only hope all those people somehow forget about anything I said while under Tattlecast's control."

"I'm sure as soon as the concert started they forgot who you even were. Concert elation does that to people."

"Also, still feel bad for making Alex cry like that. Even if that was how I felt, Tattlecast made me say it harsher than I intended. Alex may be tough but she's really sensitive too."

"Well now she knows and as a result you two are even closer than before. You can't be afraid to hide your true feelings, Katie. No matter how harsh they may seem."

"I guess." Katie sighed. "And all that money I spent on fan merch for disguises when I could've saved it for candy apples and other sweets as a reward for losing weight. Still, if I want to keep it off it was probably a good thing that I wasn't able to buy them. Gotta watch what I eat at Café la Gomme tomorrow too."

"I've never heard of such a café opening up so soon. Seems rather suspicious." Sailornyan puzzled, now while hanging a pink enclosed cat bed in the shape of a conch shell on one of the rack's hooks, then jumping onto it. "Definitely worth investigating at least."

Katie looked over at Sailornyan sitting on top of her new contraption. "Uh, what is that?"

"Like it? Even though your bed is quite comfortable, I felt like I needed my own sleeping space, so I ordered it from the pet store and with a little DIY I was able to transform it into a hanging bed!"

" _Emphasis on "a little" I see_." Katie thought to herself while half-grinning with a sweat drop in the corner of her head.

Whisper entered the room with a towel on his shoulders and holding a bottle of water while smiling. His body was no longer burnt and glistened like a shiny new pearl.

"Ah, even though it was freezing cold that felt bath heavenly, whis~." He beamed before drinking from the bottle and floating over to Katie and Sailornyan to flaunt his restored appearance. "My skin is almost back to 100 percent." He then pulled out a bottle of moisturizer from behind him. "All I need is a friendly volunteer to rub this moisturizer on my back."

Silence filled the room.

"Well goodnight." Sailornyan said as she tucked herself away in her bed like a hermit crab.

"Hmph. What say you, Katie?"

"Maybe in the morning, Whisper. I'm really tired." Katie groaned.

"But the sooner we do it the sooner my skin will be back to being flawless."

"Goodnight, Whisper. Get the light, would you?"

Whisper grumbled as he floated towards the light switch. He then looked towards the closet for a few seconds, but after hearing a loud hissing noise he quickly turned off the lights. "Aah! I'm not _that_ desperate, whis~!"

…

The next morning, Katie was putting on her tube socks in preparation to meet her friends at Café la Gomme. "Hey Sailornyan, are you coming with us this time?" she asked while putting on the last sock.

"Of course!" Sailornyan responded. "This mysterious unknown café could pose some sort of danger and I need to be there to protect you just in case."

"But she already has her more than capable temporary Yo-kai butler for that." Whisper proudly stated before teasingly smiling at Sailornyan. "Besides you only want to go to see what kind of desserts they have, don't you?"

Sailornyan blushed "That's not true at all you vexatious blowhard! We don't know anything about this place and neither does the internet according to my findings! We need to approach it with caution and not let our guards down!"

"Sailornyan it's fine if you want to come with us just to enjoy yourself." Katie reassured. "That's why I asked in the first place."

Well that's very considerate of you Katie, but as I said my only intent is to make sure you're protected from danger. We wouldn't want certain, easily distracted scatterbrains to accidentally put you in harm's way."

While she was talking, Whisper was swiping through his Yo-kai Pad. "I'm sorry did you say something, whis~?"

"I rest my case."

Suddenly the podcast notification sound played on the pad causing Whisper to gasp. "Could it be!?" Whisper quickly opened the podcast application. "It is! Tattlecast put out a new update!"

"This early!?" asked Katie.

"Play it already!" demanded Sailornyan.

Whisper hit the play button and the podcast's intro song played.

"Tell tell. (Good morning or whatever time it is when you hear this.)" Tattlecast began, sounding less cheerful than usual. "Tell tell… Tell tell. (Today I have some… News for you.)

Tell tell… Tell tell… Tell tell! (Don't worry The Tattlecast isn't going anywhere, however the content you're used to… Well… Darn it!)" Tattlecast sighed after audibly slamming her fist. "Tell tell. (I'm not going to reveal anyone's secrets anymore.) Tell tell. (Not humans', not Yo-kais', nobody's.)

Tell tell. (That means the secrets of Next HarMEOWny and any other future candidates I may have had in mind will forever remain secret.) Tell tell. (Long story short, I had a misfortune last night that really opened my eyes to see that what I've been doing is wrong.) Tell tell. (If how I felt was how humans felt after I made them reveal their secrets, then it was time to make a change because that wasn't a good feeling at all.)

Tell tell. (I just want you all to know that this was a conscious decision and no one else pressured me into making it.) Tell tell. (We've had fun with this for years now and I hope we can continue to do so with what I have planned for the future, so I'm going to need your support more than ever.) Tell tell. (I understand that this news is quite difficult to take in and some of you might not even want to support little old me anymore after this, thinking that I'm jumping on a bandwagon of some sort and that's totally fine.) Tell tell. (Change is hard.)

Tell tell. (For those who _are_ going to stick around, thank you very much and I want you to write in with some suggestions on topics you'd like to hear me cover.) Tell tell. (For now, I'll be covering news from the world of technology, continuing to provide commentary on Directator's disasterpieces, and continuing to cover non-harmful rumors floating around in the Yo-kai World.) Tell tell! (I'll even be giving free signal boosts to anyone who needs them so write in if you do!) Tell tell! (With your support, we can make this change work for the better!)

Tell tell. (That's all I have for now everyone.) Tell tell. (Thank you all for being such amazing fans, whether you continue to support me or not, and making for this more than just a hobby!) Tell tell! (Until next time, this is Tattlecast signing off!)"

After the podcast ended, the three friends all had smiles on their faces.

"She's right about change being hard, but I have a good feeling that this is going to work out just fine for her." Katie stated.

"Agreed. And we should do our best to help make sure it does too." Sailornyan replied.

"Whis~!"

"Also it was a real smart move of her to keep you anonymous, Katie." Sailornyan acknowledged. "Don't want any crazy fanboys knocking down your door."

Katie giggled. "Right! Anyway, let's go before the queue gets too full!" she said as she ran out of her room and down the stairs.

"Indeed! We didn't wake up 3 hours early for nothing!" Sailornyan agreed.

"I still say we should have camped out. Even if we leave this early, there's still the possibility of the queue being quite lengthy. It is Next HarMEOWny after all, whis~." Whisper explained.

"Like my parents would've let me do something like that!" Katie replied while slipping her on shoes. "Honestly, don't so pessimistic, Whisper."

"I prefer the term, "realistic" thank you."

"Whatever, let's just get out of—eh?" Katie opened the front door to see Goldenyan standing on her porch. "G-Goldenyan?"

"Good morning, Katie. I'm glad to see you're awake." She greeted. "I have something important to tell you."

"Can it wait? I kinda have to go stand in line with my friends at Café la Gomme before the queue gets too full."

"That won't be necessary as Café la Gomme was a complete hoax."

"Huh!? A hoax!? I don't understand. Next HarMEOWny said they were having a handshaking event there today for everyone who attended the concert last night."

"That we did!" confirmed Pandanoko who jumped from behind Goldenyan. He was wearing his sunglasses and red bandana disguise. "But we lied!"

"Pandanoko!?"

"Okay, I'm officially perplexed." Sailornyan said while scratching her head.

"Yeah! What's going on here!?"

Goldenyan pointed to the left of Katie's house. "First, shine the light from your watch in that direction."

Katie walked outside and followed Goldenyan's directions. The watch revealed a large light purple-pink colored box-like creature that had short arms, two eyestalks with swirled pupils, and orange lips with jagged and separated teeth. Inside its mouth was a miniature yellow room with furniture.

"HOLY COW!" marveled Katie.

"MY GOODNESS!" exclaimed Sailornyan.

"IT'S THE SIZE OF A HOUSE, WHIS~!" Whisper shouted while pushing his cheeks together.

"Wha-What Yo-kai is that?" Stuttered Katie.

"I'm looking I'm looking!" Whisper stammered while swiping through the Yo-kai Pad. "Ah yes! That's the Yo-kai Houzzat! This Yo-kai can devour someone's entire memory in one gulp! He mostly haunts grocery and convince stores causing the Yo-kai Incident known as, "Darn it! I knew I should've made a shopping list! Now I've forgotten what I came in here for!", but he can also be found near hospitals and business towers."

"Ho ho! You guys talking about Houzzat?" He asked.

"I… Still don't follow. What's the big idea?" questioned Katie.

"There is a lot to explain but in the interest of time I'll sum it up as best as possible." Goldenyan began. "After making my renovations to Sun Pavilion, I quickly sought out Houzzat to eat the memory of the chef, so he could forget about what happened the week before and the fact that he was planning on closing the restaurant."

"Ho ho! Are you talking about the guy with the big nose and pointy mustache?" asked Houzzat. "His memories tasted like salmon roe… I think."

"He couldn't remember _exactly_ what the restaurant looked like, so he accepted all the changes I made without question. For my final touch, I secretly left him a list of recipes for enhanced versions of his dishes to attract new customers, which in turn would help bring back old ones. Still just to be safe, I used my superior technology to pinpoint the locations of every other customer who ate at the restaurant during the time he revealed his secrets to make Houzzat eat their memories of that as well."

"That's when I ran into them at Mogmog Burgers!" Pandanoko jumped in. "I asked what they were doing and Goldenyan told me everything. I decided I wanted in on this after what you told me about Tattlecast."

"We figured those same people who heard your friends reveal their secrets at Café Shanista would be attending the concert as well, and that Tattlecast would eventually possess you while Pandanoko and the idols were under Horyū's power, both of which happened."

"My, what lucky assumptions." Whisper chimed in.

"So I came up with the idea of the girls hosting a handshaking event at a place called Café la Gomme as an apology for being late to perform." Pandanoko explained. "Goldenyan booked the fake reservation and the girls believed it was real. It didn't feel good lying to them like that, but it was for their own safety."

"Wait, so you and the idols knew Horyū was going to freeze the bus and it wouldn't wear off for three to six hours?" asked Katie.

"Yes and no. You can keep a secret right Katie?"

"Sure."

Pandanoko leaned forward and moved the tip of his tail on the side of his mouth. "It turns out that Fiona and her entire family-line can see Yo-kai without a watch." He said quietly.

"SERIOUSL-" Katie caught herself and began to speak quietly. "Seriously? That's amazing."

"Right? I found this out when she saw stopped a cat Yo-kai with a pompadour from taking unsolicited photos of her."

"Oh Baddinyan." Sailornyan mumbled.

"So I filled her in on the plan and she played along, with the other girls being none the wiser. We agreed that Horyū causing us to delay our performance would feel better than doing it intentionally. Although, Goldenyan forgot to tell me the part where it could have lasted three to six hours, so we were lucky your friends thawed it out in time."

"You're welcome." Sailornyan proudly stated.

"I helped!" Whisper butt in.

"I told you that was Houzzat's fault, Pandanoko." Goldenyan claimed.

"Ho ho! It was just a small nibble. Houzzat was just curious about what a robot's memories tasted like. It was indescribable… I think." He explained.

"And today what everyone thought was Café la Gomme was actually Houzzat under a hologram I created."

"But I thought the event didn't start until noon?" Katie brought up. "It's only 11:15."

Pandanoko chuckled. "Katie. Honey. People camped out overnight and most of them showed up as early as 7 in the morning."

"See? I told you so!" stated Whisper.

"Around 9, everyone who attended the concert had shown up except for you." Goldenyan continued.

"Even Alex and Sarah?" Katie asked before clenching her fist. "I'm gonna have a few choice words for those two."

"That's when Houzzat unleashed his Soultimate Move to give them all slight amnesia before we disappeared without a trace, but don't worry the people and your friends are fine. In fact…" Goldenyan pointed to the right of Katie's house at Alex, Sarah, and Stephen who were making their way up the street.

"Katie!" Alex called out.

Pandanoko quickly jumped into the nearby bushes to avoid being seen.

"Hey guys." Katie greeted unenthusiastically. "What's up?"

"See? I told you she would be upset with us." Sarah said to Alex.

"Well look I'm sorry we ate there without you, but that queue was insane so we couldn't just wait around for you or we'd still be in it." Alex explained. "But not to worry because…" Alex pulled a greasy brown paper bag from behind her back and handed it to Katie. "Your good pal Alex got you a doggy bag!"

"Thanks, you shouldn't have." Katie said with a fake smile.

"I know it's not the chili shrimp like you probably would've ordered, but trust me the gyoza is just as good!"

"Gyoza? From Sun Pavilion, right?"

"Yep! Best gyoza in town ever since they opened up again!"

"Yes, the quality has increased tenfold since the last time I ate there." Stephen agreed. "I don't just mean the food either! The décor and overall atmosphere of the restaurant feels so authentic that you'd think you were actually eating in China, from the porcelain antique vases to the expertly woven tapestry hung around the walls. Had it not been for Alex insisting I'd join her and Sarah after running into them while grocery shopping, I never would've given it another chance."

"Alex even treated him to lunch." Smiled Sarah. "I was surprised."

"Yeah after last night I feel really generous today for some reason." Puzzled Alex. "I just can't figure out exactly why."

" _They don't remember the concert?_ " Katie thought to herself while looking worried. " _Houzzat must've eaten that memory too. Oh well."_

"Katie are you okay?" asked Sarah.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine! Thanks for the gyoza, Alex."

"You're welcome, but I can tell by the look on your face that you're not fine." Observed Alex. "Hey, how about you come to dinner at my place tonight? We're having baked tonkatsu! That should make up for eating at Sun Pavilion without you, no?"

"Oh sure, but I'm telling you I'm fi-"

"In fact, why don't you all come? I'm sure we'll have more than enough!"

"Thanks Alex, but I promised my mom I'd help her with our dinner tonight." Sarah declined.

"My parents are a bit strict about me going to others' houses on such short notice." Stephen replied. "Plus, I have to study for the upcoming kanji test."

"Well more for us then, Katie!" Alex smiled with her eyes closed. "See ya at 6! Don't be late or I'll eat your plate!"

"O…Kay." Katie replied, looking confused.

"You'll love it, trust me! I gotta go tell the folks we're having a guest for dinner, so I'll see you two tomorrow!" Alex announced to Sarah and Stephen as she began to run off. The two bid her farewell as well.

"I suppose I should take my leave as well." Decided Stephen. "I need to get these groceries home and get back to studying. Many thanks for allowing me to join you and Alex for lunch, Sarah. I know we normally run in different circles, but I really enjoyed spending time with the both of you."

"Not a problem, Stephen! We should do it more often!" beamed Sarah.

Stephen nodded before waving and walking off. "Well, I shall see you both tomorrow. Goodbye!" Sarah and Katie waved back.

"Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into Alex lately, but I like this giving side of her. Normally she'd never invite someone like Stephen to lunch or even buy someone else food like that. You didn't say anything to her did you, Katie?"

"Nope! Not as far as I know _ehehehe_!" nervously laughed Katie.

"Well I just hope she doesn't go overboard with it." Sarah then giggled. "Like that would ever happen! Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, Katie!"

"Bye Sarah!"

After Sarah walked off, Pandanoko jumped out of the bushes. "So you see, Katie? Your friends are okay!"

"Yeah but they don't remember anything about the concert last night." She replied before thinking about it a little more. "I guess in hindsight that's actually a good thing. And Alex's become more generous without remembering that I hurt her feelings."

"Therefore, this mission was a complete success." Goldenyan proclaimed while giving a thumbs up.

"Thanks for everything you did, Katie." Said Pandanoko. "You've done the girls and I a great service."

"Not a problem Pandy!" smiled Katie. "Thank you and Goldenyan too!" Katie then turned around to face Houzzat. "Oh! And you too Houzzat!"

"Ho ho! It was no problem… I think." He replied. "Anyway, you're nice. So are your friends. Can Houzzat be your friend too?"

"Sure!"

"Ho ho! Excellent!" Houzzat began to glow as his medal materialized and fell towards Katie who caught it. The medal depicted him struggling to remember something.

"Nice! Another medal!"

"You're making a lot of friends lately, whis~!" Pointed out Whisper.

"Well I better get going." Said Pandanoko. "The girls and I need to hit the road. Fiona wanted to meet you since you both can see Yo-kai, but she was too busy. Maybe one day you two will run into each other."

"Yeah that'd be awesome!" exclaimed Katie.

Pandanoko nodded and began to slither away. "Arrivederci!" He said while waving with his tail."

"Bye Pandy!"

Goldenyan then opened a portal to the future under her feet and sank into it. "I'LL BE BACK."

"So, I guess you'll be leaving too Houzzat?" asked Katie.

"Ho ho! Yeah! It's time for me to go home." He replied. "It was nice meeting you… Whoever you are."

"Same… Even though I know who you are _teehee_."

"Sure thing!"

Houzzat sat still for a minute without moving.

"So… Are you going to go?"

"Go where?"

"Home! You said you were going home!"

"I did? Ho ho! I guess I'd better go then!"

Houzzat sat there for another minute without moving.

"You don't know where you live do you?" asked Sailornyan.

"Ho ho! Nope!"

All three friends fell on the ground after hearing that.

"I have a feeling being his friend is going to be troublesome." Whisper groaned.

"Ho ho! Who are you people? Where is Houzzat?"

That evening, Houzzat was gone by the time Katie left home to go eat dinner at Alex's house. Where did he go? Well, that, no one knows.

"Hey Whisper, do you have the feeling we've forgotten something?" asked Katie.

"Yeah it certainly feels that way, but I can't put my finger on what it is, whis~." Whisper replied. "Eh. If we can't remember, then it's probably not that important!"

"Right!"

In Breezy Hills, Horyū was lying on the ground near the waste bin he threw up in the night before, with his stomach rumbling out of hunger. "Mmm. What a draaag."


	20. Story 2: Recap

"It's recap time!" Katie cheered.

"Katie! Last time's Yo-kai were…?" asked Whisper.

"Lodo, Moskevil, Draaagin, Tattlecast, and Houzatt!"

At the Forester residence, Katie and friends were watching TV when Tattlecast unexpectedly dropped by. "Tell tell!"

"Oh, hi Tattlecast!" greeted Katie.

Sailornyan noticed that Tattlecast was holding a pair of speakers that looked similar to the ones that got destroyed. "Those speakers are new, right?"

"Tell tell! Tell tell!" Tattlecast nodded and then put them down to take out a vinyl album depicting a small old lady Yo-kai like her wearing skull face paint and yelling into a microphone while flames burned behind her.

"Hmm? What's that?" asked Katie.

"Tattlecast of the Mysterious Tribe can make people reveal their deepest and grossest secrets using her two speakers," Whisper explained. "But she's given up on that in favor of using her powers for good, and it seems she'd like to promote a new album from her favorite band to us while testing the new speakers out!"

"That's awesome! Let's hear it!" smiled Katie.

Tattlecast connected her speakers to a turntable set, put the record on the platter, and pressed the play button when the tonearm was over the vinyl. The music that played was a loud heavy metal song with incomprehensible lyrics that Tattlecast headbanged to while making the signs of horns with her hands. The sound from the speakers produced a din so powerful, that it obliterated Katie's home and any other buildings within its radius. Katie and her friends miraculously survived, however the blast caused their skin to fly off, leaving only their skeletons.

"Somehow I feel I'm not the target audience for this music group." Katie's skeleton said.

"What!? Did you say something!?" Sailornyan's skeleton loudly asked due to hearing loss.

Whisper's skeleton fell to the ground and broke apart.


	21. Story 3: Prologue

Friday evenings for elementary school kids typically meant rest and relaxation after a long week of lectures, pop quizzes, tests, and other school-related stress inducers, especially for the fair Katie Forester. However, this Friday was a bit different as instead of lying across her bed reading a magazine, she was packing various clothes, hygiene products, and books into a large pink backpack with bunny head symbols on the side flaps while humming to herself.

Watching her was her resident cat Yo-kai friend, Sailornyan who inquired with: "You're pretty excited for this school camping trip aren't you Katie? I wish I could share your enthusiasm but roughing it in the woods isn't for me. Humidity, bugs, getting dirty. No thank you."

"Oh come on, it won't be that bad." Assured Katie. "We're even going to be staying in a lodge. The point of the trip is just to learn about the nature around us and how we can use it to survive in the great outdoors."

"While very beneficial skills to have, I'll admit, I'd rather spend my weekend in the great _indoors_ where the temperature's always a cool 22°C, the only bugs I have to deal with are dust mites, and I have 24/7 access to the bathtub if needed."

Katie pouted at her spectral feline companion. "Geez, you're so spoiled. Well I guess it can't be helped. You were basically bought into royalty when you were alive after all. And anyway, Whisper will be with me, so I'll be fine."

"You say that but," Sailornyan directed her gaze to Whisper who was lying in the corner curled into a ball with a dark gloomy aura surrounding him. "Something tells me that he's not too thrilled about your upcoming venture."

Katie looked at Whisper with an unamused expression. "Oh, he's just upset because all technology is banned from being used during the trip which includes his Yo-kai Pad. He may not be a student, but he is my butler and if I can't use technology then neither can he. He'll get over it."

The depressed Whisper growled and mumbled: "This stinks."

"I see. Good call on your part. However, even though I'm a stickler for rules and regulations I do hope you intend to take your watches with you in case of emergency." Sailornyan advised. "After all, Mt. Wildwood is no stranger to Yo-kai related activity."

"Tell me something I don't know, Captain Obvious." Katie quietly muttered to herself. She then looked back at Sailornyan and said: "The watches shouldn't be a problem though since they're technically not smartwatches, and I'll have my Medallium handy as well."

"Sounds like you're more than prepared then. Still be careful, Katie. You and your pretty face better make it back to me in one piece, alright?"

Katie smiled with her eyes closed. "No need to worry. We'll be fine, right Whisper?"

Whisper continued to sulk in the corner and mumbled: "Nothing is fine. Nothing will ever be fine."

Sweat drops appeared on the back of Katie and Sailornyan's heads. "Oh, grow up." They both ordered in unison.


	22. Chapter 1: A Bittersweet Reunion

_All the mysterious phenomena in the world are caused by Yo-kai. The Yo-kai Watch can let the wearer see those Yo-kai in our world. How will Yo-kai affect your life if you ever shall meet them? No one really knows the answer to that._

 **Story #3: Un-face Your Fears!**

On the afternoon of the camping trip, Katie along with seven of her classmates: Nathan Adams, Alex Yamaguchi, Barnaby "Bear" Bernstein, Eddie Archer, Chelsea Suzuki, Eric Ito, and Megan Jones were walking through Mt. Wildwood on their way to the lodge while following their homeroom teacher, Mr. Johnson from behind. Everyone was happily chatting with each other until a shadowy figure flew out of a nearby tree, causing Megan to scream. When the figure was out of view, everyone looked at Megan with annoyance.

"It was just an owl Megan, geez." Pointed out Bear. "That's the third time you screamed at something that wasn't scary."

"First the cat that appeared at the shrine, then the catfish that jumped out of the pond and now this. Are you sure you're cut out for camping?" asked Eddie.

Hearing her classmates question her mettle caused Megan to regain her composure. She closed her eyes, stood up straight, puffed her chest out and boldly stated: "Of course I am! I come to Mt. Wildwood every summer! At night too, no less!"

Bear and Eddie both gave her cold looks and thought: "She's talking about the summer festivals."

"And anyway, those were just screams of excitement. Cats and catfish are adorable, and everyone knows that owls are a sign of good luck so-" Megan suddenly felt a slight tickle on her shoulder.

"Hey Meg, there's a spider on your-" Alex started before Megan cut her off with another loud scream.

She frantically dusted her shoulder off while rapidly sputtering: "Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff!" She then ran towards Bear and climbed on top of his shoulders out of fear. Even though Bear was the strongest boy in the class, he wasn't prepared for that much force and ended up losing his balance and falling over, followed by Megan falling on top of him. Everyone else had a good laugh at the sight.

"I guess spiders are exciting too, eh?" Alex smugly asked while waving a piece of green bristlegrass showing Megan that's what rubbed against her shoulder.

Megan pouted and folded her arms. "Very funny, Alex." She blushed out of embarrassment. "What if it _had_ been a poisonous spider and it bit me? Then what?"

"Alright children settle down." Mr. Johnson calmly ordered. "Remember the only thing to be afraid of out here is your imagination. I promise we're all going to have a safe weekend, so let's continue to make our way to the lodge. We're almost there."

"Good. It's almost time for my afternoon siesta." Megan replied as she got off of Bear and continued to walk with her arms folded.

Bear eventually got up and dusted himself off while grumbling: "Man I sure hope I don't get paired with her."

As everyone continued their trek to the lodge, Whisper floated by Katie's side and broke the silence by asking: "Megan doesn't seem like the type of person who would enjoy a trip like this, does she? If that's the case, then I wonder why she even signed up in the first place?"

"Probably because of the added incentive of extra credit." Katie replied. "I assume that's why most of them are here anyway. It's kind of a shame since camping could be really fun on its own."

The whirl on Whisper's head took the shape of an exclamation point for a split second upon hearing that. He then quickly floated in front of Katie and stated: "Oh right! I forgot to tell you something important! Katie, feel free to ask me anything in regards to camping! I have a vast amount of knowledge that will surely prove useful to you, whis~!"

"Whisper, you're not allowed to use technology remember? I even made Shadow Venoct hide your Yo-kai Pad away before we left."

Whisper slowly chortled. "Yo-kai Pad. I have no need for such frivolous tools."

Katie raised her left eyebrow. The Yo-kai Pad is Whisper's pride and joy. Now all of a sudden he speaks so lowly of it?

"For you see…" He donned a beige shirt and cap as well as a badge sash lined with various badges. "In my younger days I was part of the Scout Association of Yo-kai!"

Katie looked at Whisper in bewilderment. "Eh!? There's a scout association for Yo-kai too?"

"Yes! And as you can see, I earned every badge there was and even received countless awards. So if there's anything you need to know about camping just say the word and I'll steer you on the right path." He saluted. "Scout's honor, whis~!"

"That's… Really cool! Thanks, Whisper!" Katie smiled.

"Tch! What a poser!" a voice from nearby hissed.

"Whis~!?" Whisper winced at the accusatory comment and frantically looked around for the accuser. "Who dares question my qualifications? Show yourself!"

A bush began to rustle, drawing Katie and Whisper's attention to its location. They both fixed their gazes on it, waiting for the heckler to come out and reveal themselves, Whisper especially as he had a few choice words for them. Suddenly, a dark-purple pompadour protruded from the bush.

Katie's eyes widened. "No way!"

Soon the owner of said pompadour walked completely out of the bush. It was a small, purple, two-tailed cat-like Yo-kai with a tear on its left ear, wearing a purple jacket and purple pants, black shoes, and sunglasses with edges so sharp that they could cut through glass, which semi-covered the scar on the left side of its face.

"Baddinyan!" happily exclaimed Katie.

"B-B-Baddinyan!?" stuttered Whisper.

"Don't listen to this guy, toots." He warned while in his signature 'squatting while eating two chocobars' pose. "He barely got all the basic stage badges, nya~. They were given to him outta pity beclaws he sucked at everything, nya~. All those "awards" he got were fur pawrticipation and nyuttin' more, nya~. He's got as much camping smarts as a stinkin' litterbox, nya~."

Whisper hesitated to respond and began to sweat. "Th-That's preposterous. Of course I made it past the basic stage. Even a toddler could. Come on Katie you believe me, right? A ruffian like Baddinyan isn't exactly the first Yo-kai I'd put down as a reliable source after all."

"Oh, is that right nya~?" Baddinyan pulled a book out of his jacket. "So I guess nyer diary is just a buncha made up stories then, nya~."

Whisper's eyes bulged out of their sockets, and his jaw gaped open. "MY DIARY!? I've been looking all over for it! YOU'VE had it this whole time!?"

Baddinyan took another bite of his chocobar and began reading from the diary aloud with his mouth full: "Heh. Get a load of this, sweet cheeks. 'Day 3: I wannya go home. My tent keeps collapsing, it's too hot, I ate all my snyacks, there's bugs everywhere, all the other scouts keep making fun of my shape and won't stop "accidentally" lighting me on fire during the marshmallow roasts.' What a crykitten."

Katie wanted to feel bad for Whisper but she couldn't help but snigger at that passage. Even in the past he was really unpopular and a total loser. Whisper turned completely red out of anger and embarrassment, with the heat building up from his emotions causing his uniform to burn off him. He wanted to strangle Baddinyan for stealing his diary, soiling the pages with spittle and chocolate stains, and revealing his secrets to Katie, but he knew he be laid out faster than a bedspread.

"This thing is a freakin' gold mine, nya~. I don't even knyow where to start nyext. His paw-writing is so crappy that even _I_ can read it, nya~."

Katie giggled. "Yeah, his penmanship is pretty poor."

"Katie! You're supposed to stick up for me!" Whisper whined.

"After you just lied to me? I don't think so." Katie turned her head the other way with her eyes closed and arms folded. Saddened, Whisper slouched over hanging his head low.

"Anyway, I gotta ride. Don't let this guy's lies get nyou killed toots, nya~." Baddinyan warned as he began to walk away.

Katie looked back at Baddinyan and replied: "Well hold on, Baddinyan. It's been a while since we've seen each other. Don't you wanna catch up or something real fast?"

Baddinyan continued walking. "Nyah, I'm good. Smell nya later."

Katie's eyes widened for a second out of shock. "Huh? Well… You know my room's back to normal, right? So you can come back home now."

Baddinyan didn't respond. He simply raised his paw in the air and waved 'goodbye' from behind.

As she continued to watch him walk away from her without even glancing back, Katie felt a tightness building up in her heart. Baddinyan was a Yo-kai who's always been rough around the edges, even when Katie first became friends with him, but he's never acted this cold towards her. Why is one of her closest Yo-kai friends suddenly acting like he wants nothing to do with her? "Baddinyan…"

When Baddinyan felt like he had gotten far enough from Katie and Whisper, he stopped to look back and make sure. Neither of them was in view. He pulled out a chocobar and took a bite. "I'm sorry, Katie." He mumbled with his mouth full.

" _Ya know we can't run from 'er forever now after showin' up like dat._ " A voice said to him.

"Hiss off." He replied.

"' _Ey, I'm just statin' da facts yo. If you had kept yer trap shut and just minded yer own beeswax, then she never woulda found out we were here."_

"Tch! What the nyan was I supposed to do? That marshmallow freak would've gotten her eaten by a bear or something if I hadn't told her he was a liger, nya~!"

" _All I'm sayin' is, avoiding her's gonna be like 10 times harder now._ "

"Well dang! It's not like I _wannya_ avoid her or nyuttin', nya~! You knyow why I can't show my sorry mug to her right now, nya~!"

"Excuse me, Mr. Cat, but who are you talking to?" A different voice asked.

Baddinyan looked in the corner of his eye and saw what appeared to be a young boy behind him.

" _Nya~? Who's this kid?_ " He thought to himself. " _How can he see me? Meh, who cares?_ " He didn't bother to look back at the boy and continued to eat his chocobar. "Beat it short stack, nya~. Didn't nyer momma teach nya nyot to talk to strangers?"

"Sorry I just happened to catch your conversation with… yourself, and you sounded really upset. I was just wondering if there was anything I could do to help you."

"The only thing nyer gonna catch are these paws if nya don't bug off."

"No really! I want to help! Please!"

Baddinyan scoffed. "Nya got any chocobars on ya? 'Clawz that's the only thing that'll help me right now."

"I do as a matter of fact! Want some?"

"Nyeah toss me a couple."

"Oh actually, these might be different than the ones you like, see?"

"Nya~? What're they generic brand or somethin'?" Baddinyan turned around to see what kind of chocolate the boy had and flinched upon looking at him. "Nya~!? You ain't no kid! You're-" Baddinyan noticed that his speech suddenly became muffled. He felt around his mouth area only to find that his mouth had completely disappeared. Then he found himself being unable to smell anything and felt that his nose had vanished as well. Finally, his vision began getting blurry until he was no longer able to see; the 'boy' was the last thing he saw before his vision went blank. At that point, it became clear to him what was going on and he fell to his knees, with his sunglasses falling off his now featureless face.

The 'boy' chuckled. "Another one for my collection." He then teleported away from the faceless Baddinyan who tried to scream for help (and shout obscenities at the 'boy') but the only sounds he could produce were muffles only able to be heard by him.

He then got up and started flailing his arms and legs around, hoping to get a hit on the 'boy', but ended up punching a tree and getting a splinter instead. His muffled cries of pain were heard by no one and he couldn't use his teeth to try to remove the splinter as his mouth was no longer a part of him. Since trying to get it out with his other paw was futile, his only option was to bear with the pain. This combined with the fact that there was no air flowing in and out of his body, thus making breathing impossible, Baddinyan fell to the ground certain that this was the end for him. His only chance of survival was Katie summoning him, which she hadn't done in a while.


	23. Chapter 2: Cabin Headache

Soon the school camping group make it to the cabin and the children let out surprised gasps at the sight of it. The cabin was as big as a house and even had dormer windows projecting out of the roof. The logs that made it up, while covered in a few patches of moss, showed no signs of rotting or deterioration. It was surrounded by a wooden fence and sported several glass windows while a single brick chimney protruded from the roof. Supporting it were wooden beams and growing under it were yellow blossom bushes.

"Woah! _That's_ where we're staying?" Eddie asked with his mouth hanging open.

"I thought this was someone's house at first!" exclaimed Alex.

"And here I was expecting some rundown shack, but THIS is something else." Marveled Megan. "Maybe this trip was worth signing up for after all!"

"Come on guys, Mr. Johnson wasn't going to make us stay in an unsuitable accommodation. Of course it's nice." Chelsea pointed out, trying to sound mature when even she was astounded by the cabin's appearance.

"Thank you, Miss Suzuki! All it needs is a little tidying up inside and it'll be even more suitable!" Mr. Johnson assured. "However, before we do that you all should choose who your camping partners are going to be. Since there's eight of you we'll do groups of two. Sound good?"

"Sure!" All the children agreed in unison before conversing with one another.

"Hey Chelsea, you're the most responsible person here. I think it would be great if we teamed up, don't you?" Megan asked while smiling with her eyes closed.

Chelsea gave her a look of suspicion and replied with: "Alright, but I'm not going to hold your hand and do everything for you while you feign ignorance if that was your plan."

Megan let out a nervous chuckle as a sweat drop appeared on the side of her head. "No, of course not."

Eric was scratching his face with his index finger while pondering to himself: "Hmm, who should I pick?"

Suddenly someone put their arm around him by surprise causing him to jump. It was just Alex who smiled and asked him: "Whaddya say Eric? Wanna be partners?"

Eric almost immediately began sweating as a blush ran across his face and was only able to let out an awkward: "Uhhh, sure I-I guess."

Alex tightened her hold around him and happily exclaimed: "Awesome! Let's do our best!"

Eric's face became as red as a tomato. This was the closest he's ever been to a girl he wasn't related to.

Things were even more awkward with Nate, Eddie, and Bear who were standing in a circle, looking into the other's eyes with fierce determination and beads of sweat running down their foreheads. Their arms were raised above their chests, and their fists clenching tightly. To any passersby, it would have looked like a fight was about to break out between the three.

" _Sorry Eddie and Bear, but I won't lose_." Nate thought to himself. " _Katie needs someone dependable to be her partner_."

" _Someone who's strong and can protect her if she gets in trouble_." Thought Bear.

" _Someone who's smart and can help her avoid poisonous plants and harmful materials_." Thought Eddie.

The boys raised their right arms into the air. "Rock, paper, scissors!" They all exclaimed as they quickly brought down their hands in different shapes. Nate chose scissors, Eddie chose paper, and Bear chose rock. Needless to say, no one won, and no one lost. "Again!" they all exclaimed, ending up with another tie. "Again!"

Katie herself was too lost in her own thoughts to even worry about pairing up with any of them.

Baddinyan's halfhearted response echoed through her mind: _"Nyah, I'm good. Smell nya later."_

"What's going on with you?" She mumbled under her breath.

"So, who are you going to partner with, Katie?" Whisper asked, bringing her back to reality.

"Huh? Oh, I was thinking Alex."

"But Alex already partnered with Eric."

"Eh!?"

Whisper pointed to them. Alex's right arm was still around Eric and they both seemed to be chanting something while fist pumping. "And judging by how happy they both look I don't think they'd be willing to trade, whis~."

Katie groaned. "Oh well. I guess Chelsea would make a good partner too."

"I'm afraid Megan already asked her." Whisper pointed to them. Chelsea had her index finger raised while her eyes were closed and appeared to be lecturing Megan who was still smiling nervously. "To be honest I'm not sure if I'm more worried for her or Megan."

"Oh geez. So that leaves…" Katie looked over at Nate, Eddie, and Bear who were still in the middle of their hand game. A sweat drop promptly appeared on the back of her head.

"They seem to be playing to decide which one of them gets to be your partner, but really it's up to you."

Katie sighed. "Plus, if I don't choose it'll never end."

"Again!" They shouted, getting another tie.

"Aw man, this is hopeless!" complained Bear.

"One more time!" ordered Nate.

"All or nothing!" shouted Eddie.

All three boys raised their hands in the air again and chanted: "Rock, paper, sci…"

"Hey Nate! Wanna be partners?" Katie suddenly asked while smiling with her eyes closed before the boys lowered their hands.

Nate's face lit up with euphoria as if he had won the lottery. "YES! A thousand times yes!" He immediately answered, shoving Bear and Eddie out of the way to run to her. "I promise I'll be the perfect worker! You won't even have to lift a finger as long as I'm around!"

Katie giggled. "That's gallant of you, but we are supposed to work together you know. Besides I'd feel awful letting you do everything."

Nate put his hand behind his head. "Oh yeah. I forgot _hehe_."

Both Bear and Eddie looked at them with blank expressions.

"W-what the?" sputtered Bear.

"So, I guess that means…" started Eddie.

"…You and I are partners then."

Both boys sighed in disappointment.

"Excellent! Now that everyone's partnered up, let's go inside and get situated, shall we?" Mr. Johnson suggested.

The children all agreed.

"If the outside looks this delightful I can't wait to see the inside!" Smiled Chelsea.

"I hope it has air conditioning. That'd be the icing on the cake." Added Bear.

Mr. Johnson took the key out of his pocket and used it to unlock the front door. As he entered the cabin and flipped the light switch on he said: "I assure you, the inside is just as marvelous as the out-What the!?" He winced at the sight before him.

"What's wrong mister-Oh my god!" exclaimed Chelsea when she saw the inside as well. The rest of the students had similar reactions.

The place was littered with trash, roaches were crawling all over, and there was noticeable damage done to the walls and furniture.

" _This_ is where we're staying?" Eddie asked with a horrified expression.

"Only a recluse would live in a place like this." Alex grimaced.

"I knew I shouldn't have signed up for this trip." Megan murmured with her eyes closed as small tears appeared in the corners.

"What's the big idea, Mr. Johnson? We can't stay in a place like this!" complained Bear.

"I-I know that Barnaby, but it wasn't like this when I rented it last weekend." He replied. "So how in the world did it end up in this state?"

"A wild animal perhaps?" Guessed Nate.

"That would be a logical answer but the only way in and out of the cabin is through the front door which was left unscathed."

Eric inspects the trash up close. "Well who or whatever was in here sure loved chocobars and sweets from Banter Bakery. Look at all these wrappers."

Bear notices something sticking out from under the rug in the middle of the room and takes a closer look at it. "What's this?" He pulls the item from under the rug and gasped as a blush started to form on his face. "Next HarMEOWny's newest swimsuit photo book!" He then decides to flip the rug over which reveals a plethora of other suggestive Next HarMEOWny printed matter. "Holy cow! It's a scantily clad smorgasbord under here!"

All the other boys blushed at the sight of so many risqué books in one place. Nate broke the silence with: "At least we know it was definitely a person now."

Alex and Megan gave Mr. Johnson judgmental glares.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! I told you all this wasn't here when I came last week!" Mr. Johnson sputtered while blushing and moving his hands left and right.

Katie and Whisper gave each other knowing looks.

"Do you suppose…?" Whisper asked.

Katie nodded and replied with: "It's pretty obvious."

"Well it doesn't matter who or what left the cabin in this state. This is where we're staying for the weekend; so all that matters is getting it cleaned!" Chelsea stated while tying a bandana around her hair. "Meg and I will take care of the sweeping, Eric and Alex you both handle the dusting, Eddie and Bear, you're both boys so take care of the roaches, Nate, you vacuum and Katie, dispose of all that obscene material."

Nate raised his index finger and cheekily asked while blushing: "But wouldn't it be easier on Katie if I got rid of the photo books and stuff instead?"

"As if!" Chelsea barked, causing Nate to wince. "You'll just hide it somewhere where you can find it later!"

"No worries, Nate. I can handle it." Katie smiled, though secretly she was a little disappointed in him knowing what his true intentions were.

Soon the cleanup process started with everyone performing their assigned tasks, in addition to Mr. Johnson using duct tape to patch up the damage done to the furniture and the walls as best as he could, praying he could convince the property owner that it wasn't his fault.

"Geez, who can eat this many sweets without getting a stomachache or a mouth full of cavities?" Chelsea asked as she swept up a mini-mountain of wrappers that barely fit into the dustpan Megan was holding.

"I wish I could, that's for sure." Megan replied as she emptied the dustpan into a garbage bag. She then groaned and mumbled: "A stomachache would come in handy right about now."

Eddie and Bear stood side by side holding nets and containers.

"Heh! This'll be a piece of cake!" boldly stated Bear.

"Yeah, all the bug catching we did during summer break has led up to this!" Eddie added. "These roaches don't stand a chance in hell against us!"

The boys swung their nets with great precision, capturing any roaches unlucky enough to cross their paths and then depositing them into the plastic containers they both carried so they couldn't escape. Even ones that tried to make a break for hard to reach areas such as small cracks in the walls could not escape Bear and Eddie.

"This is too easy!" bragged Bear. "We'll have this place roach-free in no time!"

"Totally!" Eddie exclaimed. He then looked over at a wall and saw a big roach climbing it up. "Lemme grab this one and we can release all we have outside." Eddie walked up to it and raised his net but before he could swing it, the roach surprised him by flying away to another wall. "Ugh! Looks like we've got fliers!"

The same happened to Bear who exclaimed: "Crud! They're fast ones too!" The two swung their nets wildly trying to catch the flying roaches which caused them to accidentally interfere with Alex, Eric, and Nate's work whether it was bumping into them or hitting them with their nets.

Katie was able to steer clear of their chaos as she stuffed all the racy Next HarMEOWny merchandise into a large trash bag. No matter how many books she put into the bag, the pile didn't seem to get any smaller. Though in the end, through some miracle, all the books were able to fit in it and she was able to tie it up just fine. She then began to carry it a fair distance from the cabin. Unfortunately, the bag proved to be heavier than she expected causing her to have to drop it and take a break.

"Phew! Maybe Nate and I should have swapped jobs after all." She huffed while bending over and resting her hands on her knees.

"We're not really going to throw all of this away, are we?" asked Whisper. "I don't imagine Baddinyan would be too happy about that."

"Don't worry I have an idea." Katie replied before sighing. "It's an unconventional idea, but an idea nonetheless." Katie got on her knees and sat her backpack on the ground before taking out her red Medallium.

"Oh, I see. You're going to call a Yo-kai friend to hide it. This should be exciting, whis~!"

Katie took a medal out of the Medallium and stood back up, dusting off her knees. "Well… Come on out my friend! Calling Manjimutt! Yo-kai Medal do your thing!" She inserted the medal into the normal watch's slot.

"Summoning, Eerie!" The watch announced as a bright purple spiral emitted from its center.

As the Eerie Tribe's summoning song played, Manjimutt danced along to it trying to look cool. (As cool as a dog with an old man's face could anyway.)

"Manjimutt!"

"HIM!?" exclaimed Whisper.

"Hi Manjimutt! Could you do me a favor?" asked Katie.

"Hey for you Katie, anything!" Manjimutt smiled while giving a thumbs up.

"Could you take that bag and bury it somewhere far into the woods? Please don't open it though under any circumstances."

Manjimutt's smile suddenly disappeared. "Eh? I don't know about that. Sounds suspicious and I don't wanna go back to jail after just getting out."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I've seen this before in movies. Someone asks someone else to bury something in a bag or a box far away without opening it. Halfway there they get curious and open it up anyway revealing that it contained stolen goods or someone's severed body parts, and in the end the person burying the contents gets sent to the slammer even if he wasn't the one who committed the crime."

Katie frowned. "Oh get real! Do I look like I would have any of that stuff on me!?"

Manjimutt looked to his right. "No, I suppose not."

" _Suppose_?" Whisper quietly chimed in.

"However, I can't help but feel a little skeptical about doing this since you won't even tell me what's in it."

Katie sighed. "Look I understand where you're coming from, but I promise you there's nothing in here that would get you sent to jail if the police were to _hypothetically_ see you burying it."

Manjimutt folded his arms. "Hmmm. I don't know."

"Alright, fine. If you do this for me then I'll grant you one request. One."

Manjimutt looked up at Katie with widened eyes. "Huh? Really? Can it be anything?"

"Yep! A meat croquette from the butcher shop, a tummy rub, whatever you want!"

Manjimutt blushed, panted, and wagged his tail as he thought about each of those responses, with his panting and wagging getting faster and his face becoming redder with each thought.

"Stop getting so excited!" yelled Whisper.

Steam then started to blow out of Manjimutt's nose. "I'll do it! I'll bury it so deep underground that not even the strongest drill would be able to unearth it!" He then snatched up the bag with ease as if there were cotton in it instead of 20+ pounds of ribald material and quickly took off while giggling to himself.

"Thank you!" Katie shouted.

"What a weirdo." Grumbled Whisper. "That wasn't exciting at all, whis~."

"Nope, but at least that's taken care of." Katie replied.

"Yeah, but what's Baddinyan going to say when you tell him all of his naughty books are more than six-feet underground?"

Katie smiled. "Oh he'll find a way to get them back. Trust me. His love for Next HarMEOWny is too strong."

" _Yep, just like Jibanyan's._ " Whisper thought to himself.

Katie's smile then turned into a look of concern. "Still, what was up with him leaving so abruptly earlier? It's like he didn't want to be around me for some reason. He didn't even want to come back home after I told him my room was back to normal. Do you think he might have gotten into some kind of trouble?"

Whisper put his hands behind his head and sarcastically replied with: "Gee, what makes you think that? The fact that his name is 'Baddinyan' or the fact that he's been on his own for a good while with no supervision?"

Katie put her fingers on her chin. "I mean clearly he's using the cabin as a hideout of some sort, right? If he really needed a place to stay that wasn't my room, he would've chosen some old abandoned building in town. Not some cabin way out here in Mt. Wildwood. He's not a nature lover."

Whisper began picking his nose. "Maybe he's on the run from the Yo-kai Mafia after devouring all of the kingpin's confectionary gold."

Katie gave Whisper a look of annoyance and asked him: "Honestly Whisper, could you at least pretend you're worried about him? For me at least?"

"What's there to worry about? This is all just part of his typical tough guy act isn't it? Not wanting to come back home, pretending to not want anything to do with you, commandeering someone's property, it's all just to show you how independent he's become so you won't worry about him."

"I don't believe that for a second." Katie took his medal out of her Medallium. "Maybe I should summon and ask him myself."

"That won't work. If anything, he'll just lie about it and act more resentful towards you."

Katie groaned and put the medal back. "Yeah, you're right. Plus, we can't really do anything about it right now and I'm sure we'll run into him again now that we're staying in his hiding place."

"Whis~." Whisper nodded.

"Though there is something on my mind that's been bothering me…"

"Oh? What's that?"

Katie grabbed Whisper and locked her arm around him while aggressively grinding her knuckles on the wisp on his head. "Why didn't you help me with the bag when you saw that I was struggling with it, you dork!?" She agitatedly asked. "You're supposed to be my butler!"

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop! I'm sorry! My mind was somewhere else! OUCH!" Whisper cried while flailing his arms and trying to break free of her grasp.

Katie applied even more force to his head. "And why did you lie about being knowledgeable about camping!?"

"Ow! You're mad about that but not the fact that he stole my diary in the first place? YOWCH!"

"Stop trying to change the subject!"

"Oh my, what a strange sight." A voice behind them said, causing them both to flinch.

"kukkukku… Isn't it though?" another voice behind them chuckled.


	24. Chapter 3: The Legend of Kunekune

Katie looked back to see who those voices came from. Behind her were two girls: A bespectacled one wearing a blue and white hoodie and a blue skirt, and the other who wore a purple dress and cardigan and whose purple hair covered her eyes.

"You seem to be upset, Katie." The bespectacled one inferred.

"And taking out your frustration on some poor spirit. My my." The purple-haired one added.

"Eh!?" Katie let go of Whisper and quickly turned around waving her hands left and right. "No no no that's not what I was doing at all!" She then looked to her top left while trying to think of a lie. "I was, uh, practicing a pantomime for a story I'm going to tell the group tonight!"

"That's the best you could come up with?" Whisper rasped as he rubbed his wisp, trying to ease the pain from her powerful noogie.

"I see. How disappointing." The purple-haired one replied.

Katie then looked at them with a more serious expression. "And anyway, what are you both doing here? You two didn't sign up for the trip."

"Guilty as charged!" The purple-haired girl smiled. "We're here on our own free will."

"Being part of the trip would've meant we'd have to stay in the group and do whatever Mr. Johnson tells us." The bespectacled girl explained. "And who wants that when there's a whole mountain oozing with paranormal activity to investigate?"

The purple-haired girl clasped her hands together out of excitement. "Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps. Jizo statues that suddenly show up out of nowhere in random locations, sentient trees, mysterious ripples in Catfish Pond that aren't caused by the fish themselves, ahh~. It's so much more exciting than investigating the school, even if it is harder to cover."

"kukkukku… Isn't it though? Nighttime couldn't come any sooner!"

"Katie, who are these two?" Whisper asked while placing a bandage on his wisp.

"The purple-haired one is Lina Maeda and the other one is Zoey Sakai." Katie quietly replied. "They're both unhealthily obsessed with the occult."

"You don't say? Well I like them already then!"

"So Katie darling, I hear the cabin you all are staying at was mysteriously left in shambles on the inside." Lina acknowledged.

"Yet you'd never be able to tell by looking at the outside." Zoey added. "Even the front door was untouched. Strange, no?"

"Yep that sure is strange." Katie nodded with her eyes closed and a half smile, trying to pretend she didn't know anything.

"Clearly it must be the work of some spirit, and it just so happens that Lina and I are on the hunt of a certain urban legend this weekend. Tell me Katie, are you familiar with the legend of Kunekune?"

"I can't say that I am."

"That's not surprising. I can't imagine the class Madonna being an aficionado on the supernatural." Lina commented.

"Class Madonna?" Whisper parroted while placing an ice pack on his wisp.

"Well here's a bit of background," Zoey started. "Kunekune is a mysterious entity that's been sighted as early as the 2000s. It's said to look like a cross between a human and a scarecrow with long wriggly limbs and skin as pale as a white bedsheet. What's really freaky about it though…" Zoey put her hands over her face. "It lacks any facial features."

"I read its appearance and movements are so otherworldly looking that staring at it for more than a second can cause permanent blindness and insanity."

"So, you're thinking that _it_ was the one who trashed the cabin?" Katie asked with her arms folded. "Don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?"

Zoey took her cellphone out of her hoodie pocket and began typing on it. "Normally I would agree especially since Kunekune sightings are more common in rice fields, but according to the occultist forums Lina and I follow there have been sightings of a faceless creature wondering around Mt. Wildwood as of late. Take a look at this post." She held her phone out towards Katie.

"I was taking my nightly jog on the mountain trail when I caught a glimpse of something between the tree groves that looked like a small boy. However, his head was shaved and abnormally large and even though I only saw him from the side, I couldn't make out any distinguishable facial features. When I tried to get a better view of him he suddenly vanished! (O∆O) I ran away as fast as I could after that!"

"Hmm, other than the missing facial features it doesn't really match the description you gave earlier." Katie pointed out. "Still, a boy figure with an unusually large shaved head isn't any less freaky."

"kukkukku... Isn't it though?" Zoey chuckled while swiping up on her phone. "The missing facial features are the key here, so nothing else really matters. That's not even everything. Look at this next post."

"My friend went fishing at Catfish Pond last weekend and hasn't returned since. I know I should report this to the police but I'm certain they won't do anything about it. I'm worried he might have had an encounter with this faceless creature I keep reading about and it did something terrible to him! (/;◇;)/"

"People are going missing too?" Katie asked. "I'll admit that raises some suspicions, but unless Kunekune carries around sweets or Next HarMEOWny magazines I say you're out of luck because that's all that was left behind in the cabin."

"Sweets and Next HarMEOWny magazines?" asked Lina. "Oh dear. That sounds rather uncharacteristic for an urban legend."

"Not quite. In fact, this is great information!" Zoey smirked. "After all, Kunekune is considered a "modern Youkai" after all, so it liking sweets and being into Next HarMEOWny doesn't sound too farfetched."

"I don't think "modern" means what you think it does in that sense." Katie doubted with her eyes closed.

"Well either way this information is more than enough for Lina and me to come up with a plan to lure it out tonight."

"Look, you two can do whatever you want, but you both know if Mr. Johnson catches you he's going to call your parents, right?"

"Oh don't worry. Kunekune's bound to have moved on from here by now so we'll be as far away from your campfire songs and marshmallow roasts as possible." Zoey pushed the bridge of her glasses with her index finger. "Anyway, don't mind us. We've got a mountain to investigate and you've got a group to get back to. The last thing you want to be is alone when something like Kunekune is on the move because who knows? Just because it moved on now doesn't mean it won't come back later." She then giggled eerily.

Katie sighed. "If you say so. Just don't do anything too crazy, okay?" She then began to walk away.

"Ciao!" waved Lina. "Good luck with your story!"

As Katie continued to walk, Whisper floated by her and broke the silence with: "Well looks like Baddinyan's been pretty busy during his time in Mt. Wildwood, whis~."

"Oh get real!" Katie sneered. "I'm not even going to acknowledge why that doesn't make any sense."

"'Twas just a joke my dear. Though I will admit I'm curious as to who or what this Kunekune could be. I've never heard of such a Yo-kai."

Katie gave Whisper an annoyed look and replied with: "There's a familiar line."

Whisper flailed his arms up and down and exclaimed: "No! I really mean it this time!" He then put his finger on his chin. "Though if I recall there does exist a faceless Yo-kai by the name of… Of… Hang on!" Whisper reached behind his back to try to grab his Yo-kai Pad but then remembered he didn't have it and why. "Oh. I forgot."

"Well Kunekune or not, if there is a faceless Youkai out here causing trouble, we have to find and stop it."

Whisper held both of his fists up in a confident manner and nodded. "Whis~! I recommend we strike at night when everyone is asleep. With my knowledge and the power of your other Yo-kai friends we'll put this ne'er-do-well in his place!"

Katie nodded with an indifferent expression. "I just hope nobody gets hurt beforehand. Especially not those two back there."

"Now that you mention it, I believe I remember seeing them back in my own dimensiverse but Nate never interacted with them much. It's a shame because they seem like nice girls, whis~!"

"Well they are. They're just really… Peculiar." Katie held her watch in the palm of her hand, looking at her reflection in the lens while smiling. "Then again, I guess I kinda am too."

Whisper's face suddenly obstructed her view. "Then why not get to know them more?"

"Gah!" Having Whisper so close to her caused Katie to jump back.

"As fans of the occult they could help you gain a closer relationship to the supernatural." He continued. "Birds of a feather flock together."

Katie gave him a look of doubt while pointing at her watch and saying: "I honestly don't think I need a closer relationship to the supernatural than I already have."

Whisper chuckled. "By the way, what's this about you being the class Madonna?"

Katie blushed while smiling with her eyes closed and moving her hand up and down. "Oh, that's just a silly title they give me. It doesn't mean anything really."

"But I thought saying that a girl is a 'Madonna' meant that she's an ideal female in appearance and standards. Can't say I disagree in this case, whis~!"

Katie slapped Whisper on the back which sent him flying smackdab into the ground, unknowingly to her. "Oh stop! You're too much Whisper! _Teehee!_ "

Whisper groaned with his face buried in the dirt as his body twitched from the pain. A red handprint also marked the spot where Katie slapped him. "This girl doesn't know her own strength."

Unbeknownst to them, a shadowy figure was watching them from the inside of a nearby tree grove. It balled its fist up and angrily grumbled: "Darn them all…"


	25. Chapter 4: Impromptu Barbecue

Upon returning to the cabin Katie and Whisper saw that everyone was standing idly outside.

"What's going on now?" She asked Alex.

"We all finished cleaning and Mr. Johnson said he had an announcement for us once he double-checked everything." Alex replied.

"He's probably just gonna thank us for all our hard work or somethin'." Bear scoffed. "Nothing special."

Mr. Johnson walked out of the cabin and sighed heavily before clearing his throat. "Thank you for all your hard work children."

Bear clicked his tongue. "Told ya."

"I'm sorry you all had to spend most of the afternoon cleaning, but I have the perfect activity to make up for it."

"Unless we're going to a hot spring, I don't think anything can make up for that." Megan sulked.

"I wanted to catch rhino beetles, not roaches." Grumbled Bear.

"Same." Eddie agreed.

"I wanted to go fishing." Groaned Nate.

"I was hoping to get in at least one good game of hide-and-seek." Alex shrugged with her eyes closed.

Eric was too lost in his own thoughts about Alex to even process what she said as he stared at her while blushing. Eventually he snapped out of it and hesitantly added: "Uh… Y-Yeah me too! All of that stuff! Especially what Alex wanted to do!"

"Hm?" Alex quietly expressed while giving him a slightly confused look.

"I know, I know, and we'll have plenty of time to do all of that tomorrow, minus the hot spring of course, but I know you're all going to enjoy this." Mr. Johnson assured. "Because the activity I have planned is…" He walked over to a large object covered by a tarp and swiftly unveiled it, revealing a barbecue pit. "A barbecue!"

"HUH!?" All the children exclaimed.

"That's right! Renting the cabin gives me access to all the amenities including this pit! I was going to save it for our last activity of the weekend but since you all did such an excellent job with cleaning the cabin, I figured having it now would be a suitable reward!"

"Hold on, does that mean we have to hunt game and pick wild vegetables?" questioned Eric.

Mr. Johnson chortled. "Of course not, Eric! I packed some fresh vegetables and meat for the occasion, so no wild animals or plants have to lose their lives today! I even brought ingredients to make s'mores for dessert!"

"That's awesome!" Alex beamed.

"I am so down for this!" Bear happily exclaimed with both his fists clenched.

"Yay!" Megan cheered. "Though I'd still rather go to the hot spring, honestly."

Everyone else shared similar sentiments. (Sans the hot spring.)

"In order to kick it off I am still going to need some assistance from everyone. That includes cleaning the grill off, washing the vegetables, doing the dishes afterwards, as well as gathering firewood for the s'mores."

"I volunteer Chelsea and I for dishwashing duty!" Megan immediately responded.

Chelsea quietly groaned at Megan. She knew she only volunteered to wash the dishes because it required the least amount of effort and was the very last job to do. "B-But I can also help wash the vegetables and prepare them if you'd like. I do a lot of cooking at home so it's not a problem."

"I always make sure our grill at home is spotless whenever my folks decide to use it, so I can take care of that!" Bear proudly stated while pointing at himself with his thumb.

"And I'll help!" Eddie chimed in.

"Eric and I can wash the vegetables together." Alex volunteered. Eric quickly nodded in agreement.

"So, all that's left is gathering the firewood. Can you both handle that Nate and Forester?" Mr. Johnson questioned.

"Of course!" assured Nate. " _That way Katie can see what a strong dependable guy I am!_ " He then thought to himself.

"No problem!" Katie smiled.

"Actually Mr. Johnson, I don't think it would be a bad idea if Katie and Nate had an extra hand in gathering the firewood." Chelsea chimed in while smirking. "The sun will be setting soon so the faster we get everything set up the better. And since everyone but Meg has a job right now it only makes sense for her to help them out, wouldn't you agree?"

"Huh!?" Megan gasped.

"Indeed I do!" Nodded Mr. Johnson. "Is that okay with you Miss Jones?"

Megan tried her hardest to think of a way out of helping Katie and Nate, but soon realized she had no options and hung her head low. "Yes, Mr. Johnson." She glumly answered.

"Well in that case, let's all get to work to make this a great barbecue!" Mr. Johnson encouraged.

"Yeah!" All the children agreed in unison, with Megan's voice being the most monotone out of them all.

Soon after, everyone started doing their parts with Eddie and Bear using towels and wire brushes to clean the grill, Eric, Alex, and Chelsea washing the vegetables in a nearby washing station, and Mr. Johnson chopping the beef into chunks and preparing the sauce for it. Elsewhere in the woods Katie, Nate, and Megan were collecting the wood needed for the fire.

"Since we're just going to make a fire for s'mores, we don't need that much wood." Katie said to Whisper while gathering a small bundle of sticks and broken wood.

"Whis~." He nodded in agreement while collecting his own fair share.

Nate seemed to have other plans as he gathered a sizable chunk of sticks into one pile. " _Alright, this is my chance!_ " He thought to himself. " _When Katie sees me carry all this wood back to the cabin effortlessly, she'll be blown away by my manliness!_ "

Megan had little interest in helping either of them as her pile was the smallest out of the three. "Darn it Chelsea. Why'd you have to go and say that?" She mumbled to herself. "As if cleaning the cabin wasn't enough, now I have to get my hands dirty again by touching filthy sticks." She then looked at Nate and smiled deviously. "Unless…OWIE!" She shrieked drawing Nate and Katie's attention.

"Meg!" Katie exclaimed as she dropped her sticks to run to her.

"What's wrong!?" Nate shouted, running in the same direction.

When they made it to Megan she was on her knees while squeezing her right index finger with her free hand and whimpering. "I was holding those sticks, but I accidentally cut my finger on them and it hurts really bad!"

"Let me have a look." Nate insisted. Megan stuck her finger out towards him, showing the thin red incision that ran across it horizontally. "It doesn't look that bad. A bandage should do the trick when we get back to the cabin."

"Hmm." Katie examined the cut closer and put her fingers on her chin.

Megan then quickly wrapped her hand around her finger again and began to look pouty. "Still I don't think I'm going to be able to carry the wood like this." She then looked at Nate with sparkles in her eyes. "I-If it's not too much trouble Nate, could you perhaps lend me a hand?"

Nate, thinking he could score more points with Katie by helping someone in need, another girl specifically, stoically hit his chest with his fist while his eyes were closed and boldly responded with: "No problem! I'm here to help!" Steam then blew out of his nose.

"Thanks Nate! I knew I could rely on you!" Megan effused.

Nate rubbed his index finger under his nose while grinning.

"That's my master! Always willing to help those in need!" Smiled Whisper.

"Too bad it was a trick." Katie scoffed.

"Whis~?"

"That wasn't a cut. She drew on her finger with red eyeliner. I noticed it was the same shade of red as the kind my mom uses."

A sweat drop appeared on the back of Whisper's head. "So that means…"

"Meg just played him like a violin."

Whisper hung his head low in disappointment.

Nate's confident grin from a few minutes ago soon dissipated when he found himself struggling to carry the large heavy pile of wood made up of his and Megan's shares (enough to build a shelter for a small animal) as they all headed back to the cabin, with Megan happily humming to herself while her eyes were closed as if she wasn't in pain at all.

"Aren't you at least going to tell him _that much_ wood isn't necessary?" Whisper asked.

"Nah, I wanna see if he can really carry it all back to the cabin without dropping it." Katie replied. "Besides, it's a suitable punishment for allowing himself to be manipulated so easily."

"I suppose. He seems to be doing quite well tho-"

Suddenly he was cut off by a loud scream from Megan that also shocked Nate causing him to fall back, with the wood he was carrying burying him under it.

Katie annoyedly sighed. "What is it this time Meg?"

"S-Someone's following us!" She stammered while pointing at a nearby tree grove. "I saw them for a split-second and then they disappeared!"

Katie's annoyed expression then turned serious. "Did you happen to notice anything peculiar about them?"

"Well they looked like they were bald for one thing. Oh no! What if it's some old pervert!?"

Nate quickly stood back up in a fighting stance with noticeable, but harmless, scratches on his face and arms from being buried under the sticks. "A pervert!? Where!? I-I'll teach him a lesson!"

"Hey hey calm down you two." Katie ordered. "It was probably just your imagination, Meg. Remember, Mr. Johnson said it's dangerous to let your mind play games with you while in the woods."

"Yeah… Yeah you're right, Katie." Megan chuckled nervously. "I'm probably just a little exhausted after all that cleaning today. A bath, a hot meal, and a good night's sleep should calm my nerves."

"Mhmm!" Katie nodded as Megan continued to walk ahead.

Nate, apparently forgetting about wanting to impress Katie with carrying the large pile of wood he had, followed Megan and shouted: "Wait up, Meg! It's dangerous to go alone!"

Katie then focused her attention to the tree groves.

"That was eerily similar to that post we read earlier." Whisper pointed out. "Right down to the creature being bald!"

"I know. And as much as I want to, we can't go searching for it right now. And I don't wanna put any of my Yo-kai friends at risk until we know what we're dealing with."

"Smart move." A voice behind them said.

They both looked back to see who it came from.

"Whis~? EEEEE!" Whisper squealed like a giddy teenage girl as he dropped the wood he was carrying.

"Huh? Oh, it's you!" Katie smiled.

Whisper flew close to her face with an angry expression. "His name's not "you", Katie! It's the great master Pittapatt!" He corrected with occasional spittle flying out of his mouth to Katie's dismay.

"I know that you dumb fanatic! We've met him before!" She snapped back, frightening Whisper a bit. "God, say it don't spray it."

"It's been a while hasn't it?" The one-eyed straw sandal specter broke in.

"Sure has! What brings you out here?"

"There's going to be a Classic Yo-kai mixer slash reunion party tonight at the abandoned house not too far from here and I'm in charge of bringing the snacks." He turned around to show the contents of the basket he was carrying on his back. It was full of different kinds of chips and Snow Pea Snacks.

"A Classic Yo-kai party!? That sounds absolutely wonderful!" burst Whisper.

Pittapatt closed his eye. "Well it would be if everyone was showing up like we thought."

"What do you mean?" asked Katie.

Pittapatt looked up to the sky. "You see in the past us Classic Yo-kai were always everywhere causing mayhem and scaring everyone in sight. Boy, what fun that was! But as time went on, the world began to change and so did people's feelings towards Yo-kai. They stopped being afraid of us, even children. So a lot of the Classic Yo-kai went into retirement…" He then looked back at Katie. "That is until you, Katie, befriended and helped out Boyclops, Pallysol, and Lady Longnek."

"Oh right! I remember that!" recalled Katie.

"Uhh, didn't I have a role in that as well?" cheekily asked Whisper.

"Who are you again?" Pittapatt asked, causing Whisper to fall to the ground in disenchantment. "Anyway Katie, word got out about what you did and more Classic Yo-kai began appearing again, myself included. Those of us you befriended so far got together and planned this party to bring out the others. Sounds like the perfect plan, right?"

Katie's eyes widened. "Wait every Classic Yo-kai I've befriended!? As in _every one_!?"

A sweat drop appeared in the corner of Pittapatt's head. "Uh, yeah. The three I previously mentioned, Kappa, Furdinand, Tublappa…"

"What about…" Katie began before glancing at Whisper. She then dropped her sticks, bent over towards Pittapatt, cupped her hand over where she thought his ear was and whispered something into it.

"Yeah. I did say every Classic Yo-kai you've befriended, did I not?"

Katie fist pumped. "Yes!"

Whisper looked at her in confusion.

"But back to what I was saying, everything was going well until that rumor about that Kunekune creature got spread around. Now only a few are coming from what I've heard, and I don't know who exactly."

Katie lost her balance out of disappointment. "Aw, darn it."

"Don't tell me the great Classic Yo-kai have gotten cold feet over such a petty rumor!" Whisper chided.

"I think they're just using that as an excuse to not come." Pittapatt replied. "Some of them are still wary about coming out of retirement. But even so, the stories I've heard about Kunekune are pretty frightening. Going blind just from looking at it for more than a second? Creepy. That's why I've been muting my footsteps this whole time on the off-chance that the rumor is true."

"Oh, so that's why we didn't hear you sneak up on us!" Katie reckoned.

"Correct."

"My poor Classic Yo-kai!" sobbed Whisper. "Feeling so unloved and irrelevant that they're willing to use an insignificant rumor as an excuse to not take the first step back into the limelight!"

"Well Furdinand did say we should've invited and advertised Katie as the guest of honor, but the others were against it saying they didn't want to inconvenience her. And seeing as you're both currently on a camping trip I guess they were right about that."

Whisper stopped crying. "Wait a minute! If Katie was going to be invited, then that means as her temporary butler I was going to be invited too!" He then aggressively grabbed Katie's pullover sweater and looked her in the eyes, with his bulging out of their sockets and being bloodshot. "KATIE! WE'VE GOTTA FIND AND STOP THIS KUNEKUNE RIGHT NOW SO YOU CAN ATTEND THE PARTY AND THE OTHER CLASSIC YO-KAI CAN COME OUT OF HIDING! BESIDES THAT I'VE NEVER BEEN INVITED TO A YO-KAI MIXER ESPECIALLY NOT ONE INVOLVING THE GREAT CLASSIC YO-KAI SO THIS IS A HUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR ME AND I REFUSE TO LOSE OUT ON IT, WHIS~!"

"Whisper calm down!" Katie yelled as she pulled out a paper fan and smacked Whisper into the ground with it, leaving a bump on his head. "Geez! You're just too much sometimes! We're probably not going to make the party because of the camping trip, but we _are_ going to get to the bottom of this Kunekune fiasco at night when everyone's asleep. So you hurry and get to your party where you'll be safe, Pittapatt. We'll take care of this."

Pittapatt nodded. "Will do. See you later!" He then began to walk away.

"Buh-bye!" waved Katie.

"Must. Attend. Classic. Yo-kai. Party. Whis~." Whisper moaned as he struggled to get back up, with foam running out of his mouth.

"I see your priorities are straight." Katie sarcastically commented as she picked up the wood she dropped earlier. "Now get up, dumb-dumb. We've got a barbecue to get back to for now."

Whisper quickly shot back up after hearing that. "Oh right! I can't wait to sink my teeth into some yakiniku, whis~!"

"Me too! I didn't even know Mr. Johnson barbequed. I thought teachers only knew how to make cup ramen because that's all they could afford!"

Whisper paused for a second as a sweat drop appeared in the corner of his head and Katie continued walking. "That's… Rather mean. Veracious to some degree, but mean nonetheless."

—

Back at the cabin the barbecue was already in motion. Several yakiniku skewers lined with pieces of beef, mushrooms, lotus roots, onions, all three colors of bell peppers, baby corn, squash, and leeks were sizzling on the grill under Mr. Johnson's supervision. Also under his supervision was Chelsea, who amazed him and everyone else with her prodigious knife skills by chopping the vegetables with precision and ease.

"Chelsea that's amazing!" marveled Alex.

"My mom's not even that good!" complimented Eddie.

"Where'd you learn to cut like that!?" queried Bear.

"I learned from watching cooking shows on television." Chelsea responded as she stuck some vegetables and beef on a skewer using a pair of tongs. "I've been practicing for about two years now."

"TWO YEARS!?" everyone exclaimed.

"You wanna be a chef or somethin' when you grow up?" asked Bear.

"Not really. I just like helping out at home as much as possible whether it's cooking, laundry, or cleaning." Chelsea replied as she placed the skewers on the grill.

" _So mature._ " Everyone thought.

In an area nearby with no grass, Katie and Nate were just about ready to start the fire. "Okay, that's the last of it." Katie said as she dropped the wood she was carrying in the stone circle they made.

Nate chuckled as if he had something planned. "Alright, stand back Katie. It's about to get hot!" He picked up two thick pieces of wood and started furiously rubbing them together. After about a minute and a half the wood showed no signs of even smoking and Nate began to break out in a sweat.

"Uh, Nate you know I can just ask Mr. Johnson if we could borrow his lighter, right?" Katie asked with a half-smile and a sweat drop in the corner of her head.

"No way!" huffed Nate. "This kind of wood just probably takes more time to burn than others! That's all!"

Katie groaned and looked at him with annoyance.

"I'll admit I admire his tenacity." Whisper commented. "But the barbecue's about to start soon and I don't want to miss out on getting the skewers with the most meat."

"Don't worry I've got this." Katie replied as she took a Brave Tribe medal out of her pocket. "Come on out my friend! Calling Blazion! Yo-kai Medal do your thing!"

" _Summoning Brave!"_ The watch around her neck announced when she inserted the medal.

As the Brave Tribe's theme played, Blazion performed straight punches, side kicks, and did a mighty roar before standing in a fighting stance as the summoning process ended.

" _Blazion!"_

"Blazion could you please light the campfire for Nate, so we can attend the barbecue back there?" asked Katie.

"Blaze blaze, blaze? (A barbecue, huh?) Blaze blaze! (Alright then!)" He replied before quickly leaping forward and punching Nate in the back.

Suddenly Nate felt a burning sensation building up in his body. He stood up straight with fire in his eyes and shouted: "ALRIGHT! LET'S GET THIS CAMPFIRE GOING! THE SOONER WE LIGHT IT UP THE SOONER WE CAN EAT!" He then got back on his knees and started rubbing the sticks together even faster.

"He fired up Nate instead of the wood!" blurted Whisper.

"Yeah but look at it!" Katie pointed out. The wood was beginning to smoke from all the rapid friction and suddenly a fire sparked from it.

" _Huff huff._ See, Katie? I told you I had it." Nate panted while smiling and giving a thumbs up along with Blazion.

"You sure did! Nice work!"

"Even if it was only because of Blazion…" Whisper shrugged.

Soon afterwards, the barbecue was in full-force with everyone chowing down on the yakiniku skewers.

"So good!" exclaimed Eddie.

"Mr. Johnson and Chelsea are great cooks!" praised Megan.

"The meat is so tender and juicy!" complimented Bear who had a skewer with nothing but meat on it.

"Bear! Eat some vegetables too!" Chelsea chastised as she shoved a vegetable skewer in his face with him looking at her with surprise and concern.

"Mmm! Eric you've gotta try this baby corn it's delish!" Alex gushed as she took a piece of baby corn off her skewer and held it up to Eric's mouth. "Say 'aah.'" Eric's face turned completely red upon hearing her command. Not wanting to refuse her offer, he slowly opened his mouth so she could playfully feed him the cornlet. "Good, huh?" Eric rapidly nodded with hearts in his eyes and was barely able to stand up straight due to feeling amorous.

"Eat as much as you want children!" encouraged Mr. Johnson as he grilled more skewers. "There's plenty enough here!"

"In that case I'm gonna eat until I burst!" proclaimed Nate.

Katie giggled before turning her attention to Whisper and Blazion who apparently didn't hear what Mr. Johnson just said.

"Paws off, Blazion! I saw this skewer first!" Whisper bickered as he tried to take a meat skewer from Blazion.

"Blaze blaze! (No way!) Blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze! (I earned this for helping Katie!)" He argued back.

"Well I'm her temporary butler so I deserve it more!"

"Blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze, blaze! (The only thing you deserve is a carrot stick, fatty!)"

"Oh how dare you! I'll have you know that I'm just naturally round!"

Katie frowned. "Will you both knock it off? Mr. Johnson just said-"

Before she could finish, the skewer slipped out of Blazion's paw and the force of his and Whisper's tug-of-war sent it flying into the woods.

"My meat!" they both shouted (Blazion in his own language) as they ran after it.

"Wait! Come back here!" Katie commanded as she followed them with no one noticing her leaving.


	26. Chapter 5: A Neo Classic Party

In another part of the woods, Lina and Zoey were hiding behind a bush while carefully eyeing a pile of chocobars and Next HarMEOWny swimsuit magazines a few feet away from them.

"Geez, this is taking too long." Complained Zoey. "We've been here for over an hour and Kunekune hasn't shown up to take the bait. We even sprung for the premium chocobars for crying out loud! I'm starting to think Katie was just messing with us."

"Patience, dear Sakai." Advised Lina. "The class Madonna is many things, but a manipulator is not one of them. Remember the spirits work on their own time, not ours."

Zoey began scratching her right thigh. "Yeah yeah I know. I just hope they work before the ants make a meal out of my legs."

"I told you to buy repellant while we were at the store, but you spent the last of our money on the newest Hex Life issue instead."

Zoey pulled the magazine out of her hoodie. The cover featured a well-endowed woman with messy purple hair, swirly glasses, wearing a witch's hat and a black dress with a spiderweb-styled collar, and holding a crystal ball. "How could I not? This week's included incantation is about shapeliness and body enhancement!"

Lina blushed and held her hand over her mouth. "Oh dear. I wasn't aware you were concerned about such things."

"Of course! If I'm going to practice witchcraft when I start high school, I need to have the body for it after all. Some of the best female mages in Springdale's history were total bombshells y'know!"

Lina smiled and clasped her hands together. "Ah! I see! Well in that case I cannot scold you for such a wise purchase. May the spirits grant you with a voluptuous figure when you come of age."

Zoey put the magazine away. "Right now, I just wish they'd grant us with an appearance from Kunekune." She stood up, dusted her legs off, and started walking away. "I gotta go pee. Come and get me if something happens, okay?"

"Oh dear, those restrooms we walked past earlier are quite a distance from here. Being that far from each other during a paranormal investigation is quite unsafe, is it not?"

"Well duh, that's why I'm going behind one of those trees over there."

The top half of Lina's face turned blue while black lines ran down it. "How uncouth." She then looked back at the bait and sighed heavily. "I suppose I too am starting to get restless. Perhaps some quick meditation will soothe my tension." She began sitting in seiza, breathing deeply with her hands and fingers in the Gyan Mudra position.

After a few seconds of mental exercise, she suddenly felt a tap on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm done."

"Oh my, that was quick." Lina looked back. "Eh?"

Zoey walked from behind the tree. "Hey I'm done. I'm guessing nothing happened yet, huh?" Lina didn't respond and continued looking in the direction of the bait. Zoey raised her eyebrow. "Uh, hello?" She walked over to Lina and tapped on her shoulder. "Lina?" Still getting no response she turns her around and gasped out of shock.

Lina's face is completely blank; her nose and mouth are gone. With her heart starting to pound and a rare sickening worriment building up inside her, Zoey hesitantly lifted a lock of hair covering Lina's eyes, only to find that they are gone as well. She was also completely immobile with no vital signs. "No way..." She backed away from her and bumped into something. She quickly turned around to see what it was, when her vision and mind went dark in an instant.

"And then there was one."

"Where is it? Where is it?" Whisper blabbered as he frantically searched the bushes for the lost skewer. "I know I saw it land over here somewhere!"

"Blaze Blaze Blaze? (Looking for this?)" Blazion smugly smiled as he waved the leaf and dirt covered meat skewer in his hand before proceeding to devour it all in one bite, to Whisper's chagrin. "Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze. (It pays to have a predator's nose.)"

"Hey! That's not fai-YOWCH!" Whisper suddenly felt a tight grip around his wisp.

Blazion let out a loud belch with his eyes closed before yelping in pain as a strong pinching sensation occurred on his right ear.

The cause of their pain was an angry Katie who had them both in her clutches. "You can't just run off into the woods like that you crazy carnivores! It's dangerous! Mr. Johnson said there's more than enough food which includes the meat, so stop acting like middle-aged meatheads and let's go back right now!" She started walking back to the campsite while forcibly dragging her Yo-kai friends.

A few minutes after being dragged, Whisper stopped grunting in pain and asked: "Hey, do you guys hear that?"

Katie stopped walking. "Huh? Hear what?"

Whisper broke free of her grip and temporarily grew an ear on the left side of his head while holding his hand up to it. "Listen! It sounds like music. Enka to be precise, whis~."

"Enka?"

"Blaze, Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze. (Yeah, I hear it too.)" Blazion confirmed.

Katie held her hand to her ear as well and added: "You're right. It sounds like the music that plays during the summer festivals, but that's not for another two weeks. Anyway, we shouldn't-" When she looked back in Whisper's direction, he was gone. "Whisper? Whisper? Ugh! Where did he go no-"

"AAAAAAAAH!"

"Whisper!" Katie let go of Blazion's ear and they both ran in the direction of Whisper's scream.

"Blaze Blaze! (Wait up!)"

As they ran through the woods, they could hear the enka slowly growing louder and saw a glowing light peeking through the trees.

"Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze, Blaze! (Stay on your guard, Katie!) Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze! (Be prepared for anything!)"

When they make it out of the tree grove, they find themselves in front of a large house that looked worse for wear. Vines were covering it from head to toe, the wood had rotted so badly that it seemed like just touching it wrong would make the entire foundation collapse, the windows were broken and filthy, and the entrance was barricaded with wooden planks. The enka music they heard earlier was coming from inside which was also illuminated.

"This is…" started Katie.

"Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze. (I've heard about this place.)"

"Really?"

"Blaze. (Yeah.) Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze. (Many Yo-kai parties are held here because it's abandoned.)"

"I see."

"Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze. (Sounds like there's a party going on now.)"

"Yeah."

"Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze? (Should we check it out?) Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze. (Your friend might be in there.) Blaze Blaze Blaze, Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze. (If he is, they could be using him as a dart target.) Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze. (They reserve that right for Yo-kai who show up uninvited.)"

Katie didn't respond.

"Blaze, Blaze Blaze? (Hey, what's wrong?)"

Katie gave Blazion a confused smile with a sweat drop on the side of her face. "You realize I can't understand a single word you say, right?"

Blazion's jaw dropped as he looked at Katie with shock and disgust.

"AAAAAAAH!" Whisper screamed again, grabbing their attention.

"Whisper! Blazion, punch through the barricade!"

"Blaze! (Right!)" Blazion destroyed the wood with a single punch and Katie quickly followed him in from behind.

"Whis…Per?" Katie's eyes widened in awe of what she saw. Paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, several tables set up with spreads of different foods ranging from vegetables to sweets, an oden stall manned by Master Oden, a mini-bar serving sake and other drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic run by Sebastian, a Gnomey band playing several traditional Japanese instruments while on a stage stationed near the back, and many of the other Classic Yo-kai she befriended present.

"It's Katie!" Boyclops chorused, followed by cheers from the other partygoers.

Pittapatt ran up to her and greeted her with: "Hey! You were able to make it after all! This is great! Well come on in, don't be shy!"

Katie was happy to see so many of her Yo-kai friends gathered in one place but didn't know how to process it all and awkwardly replied: "Uhh, okay."

As she and Blazion walked in, some of the other Classic Yo-kai began swarming her.

"Katie! Wanna see the new jump scare I've been working on?" Pallysol asked as he hopped toward her.

" _Psh_! I've seen it and it's nothing special." Boyclops rasped. "Look what I can do with my eyeball now!"

Lady Longnek groggily stretched her neck around Katie. "Oh pleashe, Katie doeshen't wanna shee your shilly little parlor tricksh." She slurred, barely able to stay conscious and look at Katie straight while keeping her neck in the air. "Look at wha…" She closed her eyes for a second as her neck started to descend, but quickly opened them and shot her neck back up. "ICANDO!" She then collapsed but Katie caught her head before it fell to the ground. Immediately she began snoring in Katie's arms with a snot bubble coming out of her right nostril. Sweat drops appeared on the sides of Boyclops and Pallysol's heads upon seeing that.

"Come on guys give her some space. She's here to enjoy the party just like the rest of us. Not to hear a bunch of bogus boasting." Kappa asserted before flipping his hair.

"Um, well actually I'm here because-"

"Besides," he began, cutting her off. "I think it's fair to say that I've improved the most since our last meeting."

"Oh yeah? Prove it!" provoked Boyclops.

Kappa flipped his gourd in the air, caught it, and squeezed a white substance from it onto his head plate. "I've started using moisturizer to keep my plate from drying out in the sun. Now not even Yokozudon could beat me in a sumo match during the day."

"Boo! Talk is cheap!" jeered Boyclops.

"That proves absolutely nothing you poser!" Pallysol added.

" _I see they haven't changed a bit_." Katie thought to herself while half smiling with her eyes closed and a sweat drop in the corner of her head.

" _Hehe_. It's been like this all night." Pittapatt chuckled. "Everyone's been bragging about what they've accomplished since meeting you. Now that you're here in person, I feel it's about to get even livelier."

"Well actually the only reason I'm here is because-"

"AAAAAAAAH!"

"Whisper!"

"Master Furdinand your hair is as shiny and luxurious as ever! Not a single split end in sight!" Whisper gushed while floating around Furdinand.

"It's all thanks to good genes and the hair conditioner Katie gave me." He replied while coating himself with it. "No breakage here!"

Whisper then floated over to Tublappa who was licking the inside of his bucket which was full of oden soup. "Master Tublappa your tongue has gotten even more slippery and slimy since the last time I saw it!"

"Thankth. It dried out a while back aphter licking too many oph the thalt candieth that Katie shared with me, tho I've been licking lot'th oph liquid thuph like oden thoup to make it moitht again." He responded.

Katie looked at Whisper in disbelief. "Oh. I get it now." She turned her attention away from him, surveying the area and taking note of all the Yo-kai present and sighed. "Must have had something else to do." She mumbled.

"That marshmallow guy's with you, right?" asked Pittapatt.

"Eh? Oh, yeah. I'm sorry if he caused any trouble."

"Not at all. Any friend of yours is a friend of ours. In fact, everyone's been enjoying the praise that's been coming from him after he begged to stay when I told him he wasn't invited. Though I've noticed he glares at Sebastian from time to time. Are they rivals or something?"

Katie giggled nervously. "It's a long story."

"Well anyway I'm glad you were able to make it. Maybe I should have listened to Furdinand after all and advertised you were going to be here. Then more of us would have shown up, truly making this a Classic Yo-kai party for the history books. I should've had more faith in you after you helped me correct the mistake I once made."

Katie blushed while half-smiling and rubbing the back of her head with her eyes closed. "Well that's nice but like I've been trying to say, the only reason I'm here is to get Whisper so we can-"

"SUMO BATTLE!" shouted Boyclops.

"Eh!? Sumo battle?" Katie ran towards the commotion while still carrying Lady Longnek's head. Kappa and Blazion were standing in a ring face-to-face while squatting with their hands on their knees. "What's going on?"

"Your friend challenged Kappa to a sumo match." Pallysol explained. "He told Kappa that if he's as good as he says then he wanted to see it right here and right now."

A sweat drop appeared on the back of Katie's head. "Oh Blazion."

Whisper floated between the two acting as the gyouji referee, only wearing the eboshi and holding the gunbai, pointing at the fighters with it as he introduced them. "In the left corner we have a real, genuine Yo-kai! The original river monster himself, Master Kappa! In the right corner we have a feline Yo-kai with a fiery passion for everything! The walking embodiment of motivation, Blazion! Everyone knows the rules of sumo wrestling so all I'll say is that I want a good, clean match! No unnecessary roughness and only use your legs for moving."

"Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze! (Actions speak louder than words!) Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze! (Show me what you've really got!)" Blazion implored.

"Hmph. As if a Water Yo-kai is gonna lose to a Fire Yo-kai!" Kappa confidently stated.

Whisper waved his gunbai downward. "Begin!"

Both competitors lunged forward pushing their bodies against each other's, both equally matched in strength. After turning each other around twice, Kappa started to move Blazion backwards.

"Come on Blazion! Make Kappa eat his words!" yelled Boyclops.

"Yeah don't lose to that quack!" shouted Pallysol.

" _They're cheering for the underdog instead of one of their own_?" Katie thought to herself, looking at them in disbelief.

Kappa pushed Blazion even closer to the edge of the ring. "Give it up pussycat. We kappas are natural-born sumo wrestlers. You never stood a chance."

"Blaze Blaze, Blaze Blaze Blaze. (I'll admit, you're pretty strong.)" Blazion began. Flames suddenly started to ignite in his eyes and his fiery mane was flaring up even more. "Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze! (But I'm far from finished!)

"Ha! Turning up the heat won't help you! My skin is fire resistant and the moisturizer I use stops my head plate from drying out!" Kappa's head plate started steaming. He then began losing strength in his arms and legs. "Hey, what's going on!? This isn't supposed to be happening!"

With a mighty roar, Blazion used all his strength to toss Kappa backwards out of the ring.

"WHIS~!?" Whisper exclaimed in shock with his jaw almost reaching the ground. "Th-The winner is… Blazion." He sighed out of disappointment.

The other Classic Yo-kai cheered.

"Is that even allowed?" questioned Katie.

"With Yo-kai? Yes." Answered Pittapatt.

" _Koff koff._ Man… I'm losin' my edge." Kappa exasperated while lying on the ground. Blazion's shadow loomed over him.

"Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze, Blaze Blaze. (Moisturizer protects from UV rays, not fire.)" Explained Blazion. "Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze, Blaze Blaze Blaze. (With enough heat exposure, it's practically useless.)

"Hm. I guess that's true. No moisturizer is that strong."

Blazion held his paw out to Kappa to help him get up.

"This old Yo-kai's still got a lot to learn I suppose. You're alright, pussycat. Let's spar again sometime."

"Blaze. (Yeah.)"

The two then shook on their new friendship.

"C'mon, I'll ask Sebastian to mix you up a special drink. My treat."

"Blaze Blaze! (Sounds good!)"

They began walking with their arms around each other's shoulders. "Fair warning though: once you've had one, you'll never be done. Let Lady Longnek be an example for you."

"Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze Blaze. (I'm willing to take that risk if it's on your tab.)"

They both chuckled.

"Whis~. What a disappointing outcome." Whisper mumbled with his head hung low and eyes closed. He looked back up and saw Katie amongst the spectators. "Ah, Katie!" He quickly floated over to her, stripping off his gyouji attire. "Enjoying the party?" He noticed Lady Longnek sleeping in her arms. "She finally passed out huh?"

Katie gave him an angry look and pinched his cheek causing him to grunt in pain. "Don't 'enjoying the party' me! Why did you run off even after I told you it's dangerous!? Do you get some sort of sick kick out of making me worry!?"

She let go of his cheek, leaving a red bruise on it. "I'm sorry but when I heard the enka music I just knew it had to be coming from the Classic Yo-kai party Master Pittapatt mentioned earlier since it's not time for the summer festival! Please understand that I simply had to see it for myself since I've never been invited to one of these mixers before, so I flew off as fast as I could. And I was right, whis~!"

"For once anyway." Katie cheekily mumbled.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing. I'm glad you're okay so let's just go and-"

"Hello there, Katie!" greeted Master Oden who was holding a bowl of oden. "Dat was some match, eh? I bet just watching it worked up your appetite so have a bowl."

"Oh, thanks Master Oden, but…" She started rocking Lady Longnek's head in her arms. "My hands are kinda full right now as you can see."

"I'll hold it then!" Whisper offered while drooling.

"Let me know how you like it. Dis time I used phoenix eggs, so it may be a bit spicy." Master Oden said as he walked back to his stall.

"Phoenix eggs!?" exclaimed Katie.

"Only joking! Ha ha ha!"

Katie looked at him in confusion. "What a strange Yo-kai."

"He makes good oden though." Whisper replied, licking his lips.

Katie looked at the bowl he was holding and saw that it was empty. "Wasn't that for me?"

"Greetings Ms. Katie." Sebastian suddenly greeted while holding a tray carrying a blue drink. "I take it you're enjoying the festivities and finding that everything is perfect, yes? May I offer you a Blue Hawaii?"

"Oh, hi Sebast-"

Whisper abruptly flew in-between them. "No, you may not! For one, _I'm_ her temporary Yo-kai butler so if anyone is going to offer her a drink it's me! And two, Blue Hawaii is an adult beverage; ergo not appropriate for Katie who's in primary school!" He then knocked the drink off the tray. "Whis~!"

"Whisper! That was rude!" Katie annoyedly exclaimed.

"Not to worry, Katie. This cretin won't be intoxicating you tonight. If you're thirsty, I'll be more than happy to provide you with appropriate refreshment." He pulled a juice box from behind his back and held it out to her. "Prune juice?"

"No."

"My sincerest apologies." Sebastian began. "I should have specified that this particular Blue Hawaii was non-alcoholic and made with blue cream soda instead of liquor. Please forgive me. I shall make you another if you desire."

"No no it's fine. In fact, Whisper and I were just getting ready to lea-"

"So Katie, how'd you beat Kunekune?" Pittapatt interrupted.

"Eh?"

"That's why you're here isn't it? You were able to stop Kunekune early and break away from your camping group to come to the party, right?"

"Well-"

"Yeah! Tell us how you did it!" encouraged Boyclops.

"Which Yo-kai did you summon?" asked Pallysol.

"How did you look at the monster without it stealing your face?" inquired Furdinand.

"Did it thneak up behind you or did you thneak up behind it?" questioned Tublappa.

"Uh…" Katie began sweating nervously. She remembered how Pittapatt told her how nervous the rumor made some of the other Yo-kai and she didn't want everyone to start panicking by telling them she hadn't done anything about it yet. Suddenly, the sound of loud thunderous footsteps filled the area causing a chill to run up her spine. "Uh, what is that?"

"He's here! He actually came!" rejoiced Pittapatt.

"Who? Who came?"

Whisper's wisp suddenly became pointy. "Katie! I'm sensing a strong presence! Shine the light from your watch towards the entrance!"

"'Kay. Hold this." Katie handed Lady Longnek's head to Whisper and did as he said, and the light revealed a large black humanoid Yo-kai with horns and claws. Most surreal about it, however, was that its body was covered in eyes. It was also covering its face for some reason. "Wah! A monster!" She screamed.

"AAAAAAAH! That's no monster! It's Master Eyesoar!" Whisper gushed as he dropped Lady Longnek's head on the ground. "He's one of the strongest Classic Yo-kai around!"

"All those eyes give me goosebumps."

"Hey long time no see, Eyesoar! Welcome to the party!" greeted Pittapatt.

Eyesoar didn't say anything and just moaned with his face still covered.

"Huh? What's the matter? Is it too bright in here for you? I can see if we can dim the lights a bit but-"

Eyesoar removed his hand from over his face to reveal that it was completely blank, causing everyone to gasp.


	27. Chapter 6: Classic Yo-kai Assemble!

All the Yo-kai stared at Eyesoar with shock and concern, but Katie was confused by their reactions.

"Uhh, is something wrong?" she asked, trying to sound as genuine and unrude as possible.

"SOMETHING IS _VERY_ WRONG!" Whisper shrieked causing Katie to jump. "MASTER EYESOAR'S HUNDREDTH EYE IS MISSING!"

" _Hundredth_ eye!?" Katie gasped out loud as she kept this little part in her head: "I only counted twelve."

Whisper's eyes suddenly merged into one big eyeball, which made her uncomfortable. "It's the eye that functions as his mouth, nose, and ears! It's the most important eye next to the one connected to his heart!"

When his eyeball split into two again, she uttered a disgusted: "Please don't ever do that again."

"He's right." Pittapatt chimed in. "If it's missing, that means he can't hear, smell, or talk. All he's left with is touch and sight."

"That's awful." Murmured Katie. "Poor freak-I mean guy!"

"What's strange is that his face is still there. It's like his eye was just… erased from it."

"How is that even possible?"

Furdinand rubbed his moustache while pondering about the situation before coming to a realization and exclaiming: "Wait! Kunekune!"

"Huh?" asked Pittapatt.

"Remember the legend? Looking at it for more than a second will cause permanent blindness!"

Pittapatt ran around Eyesoar and the eyes on his body followed his movements. "But the rest of his eyes are still there, and it looks like he can see out of them just fine."

"True, but not everyone has eyes all over their bodies like Eyesoar."

"Thankfully." Katie muttered under her breath.

"But that's when I realized something, and this is just a theory, but what if the reason looking at Kunekune causes permanent blindness for those unfortunate enough to do so is because it somehow erases their facial features? Think about it. Why else would Eyesoar's other eyes still be intact? The other eyes on his body aren't part of his face which is why they're still there!"

"But even so, Katie defeated Kunekune so that should've undone its powers and restored Eyesoar's hundredth eye. Right?"

"Well actually…" Katie began before getting interrupted again.

"Dat's usually how it goes, but Kunekune seems like a pretty unusual Yo-kai so who knows?" inferred Master Oden.

"So you're sayin' our pal's stuck like this forever!?" Kappa fumed with his fists clenched. "Darn it!"

"If Kunekune were still alive I'd give him a piece of my mind for this!" raged Pallysol.

"Right now, I just wish I had a spare hundredth eyeball to give Eyesoar." Lamented Boyclops. "Can't be fun just having two of your five senses."

The Gnomey band started playing a sad song consisting mostly of violins before they were interrupted by Katie. "Everyone! Please listen! I've been trying to tell you all that Kunekune hasn't been dealt with yet!"

All the Yo-kai gasped.

"Yeah I'm sorry. I was going to take care of it later tonight when my camping group was asleep. I wouldn't have come to the party otherwise." She then glared at Whisper and Blazion who looked away from her while whistling to themselves. "But due to unforeseen circumstances I'm not exactly here by choice."

"So that creep's still out there then. Good. 'Cause I wanna pay 'em back ten-hundred percent for what it did to Eyesoar!" Kappa snarled as he angrily punched his palm.

"Same! I'll never forgive something like this!" Pallysol swore.

"Us eye-centric Yo-kai gotta look out for each other after all!" Boyclops joked.

"No, uth Clathic Yo-kai gotta look out phor each other!" Tublappa chimed in. "That'th why Pittapatt threw thith party and brought uth together!"

"Yes! And there's a chance that beating Kunekune will restore Eyesoar's hundredth eye! I'm sure of it!" Furdinand stated.

The Gnomey band began playing a more triumphant song as the other Classic Yo-kai rallied with each other to take down Kunekune.

Pittapatt looked at his friends joining forces and almost shed a tear. "This is it. This is exactly how it should be." His expression then became more serious. "Okay, if we're going to find Kunekune we'll have to split up into groups. Kappa and Pallysol, you two search around Catfish Pond, Furdinand and Tublappa check the Jumbo Slider area, I'll get the Gnomey band to call their police force to survey the mountain summit, and Boyclops and I will take the area around the shrine."

"So what do we do if we find it?" asked Boyclops.

"Simple. We pound its featureless face in!" answered Kappa.

"No Kappa! We must attack it together if we're going to stand a chance against it!" Pittapatt objected.

Kappa clicked his tongue and folded his arms. "So how are we gonna do that if we're all separated, huh? Run back here with our tails between our legs and wait until everyone is together then go back to where it was spotted? Sounds pretty counterproductive to me."

"Look, I know we're all upset and want to take down Kunekune as soon as possible, but that doesn't mean we should act impulsively lest we all lose our facial features too. If you spot Kunekune, use your powers to create a signal so we can all rush to your location and attack it together. So Kappa and Pallysol would create a water cyclone, Furdinand would hop into Tublappa's bucket while he lifts it above the trees with his tongue and call for everyone, the Gnomey Police Force would all blow their whistles, and Boyclops would create an illusion from his eye above the forest while I amplify my footsteps to maximum volume while stomping the ground."

Kappa nodded. "Sounds good. As long as it ends with that thing getting a beatdown I'm up for anything."

"Um, wouldn't it be better if I made Tublappa's hair grow above the trees instead?" Furdinand suggested before muttering this to himself: "Not to mention more sanitary. I know where that thing's been."

"Do whatever you feel would work best." Pittapatt replied before facing Master Oden and Sebastian. "Master Oden, Sebastian, I know you two aren't Classic Yo-kai so this doesn't necessarily concern you nor did I request your services for this, but could you please keep an eye on Eyesoar while everyone is out searching?"

"Not a problem my friend!" answered Master Oden.

"Most certainly. It would be terribly rude to abandon a fellow Yo-kai in need regardless of the difference in our class." Sebastian explained.

"Thank you." Bowed Pittapatt. "Okay everyone let's move ou-"

"Hey, what about us?" Whisper interrupted while wearing a soldier's uniform with great determination in his eyes. "What orders do you have for us Master Pittapatt? How can we help?"

Katie cleared her throat causing a sweat drop to appear on the side of Whisper's head. " _We_ are going back to camp before someone realizes that I'm gone."

"But Katie this is an emergency! Master Eyesoar's life is at stake! And how often do you see the Classic Yo-kai banding together for a manhunt like this!? Things like this only happen once every blood moon, whis~!"

"Whisper, whose Yo-kai butler are you?"

Whisper sighed. "Yours…" His uniform then disappeared, and he muttered to himself: "Temporarily."

"We'll come back once everyone at camp is asleep like we planned the first time. I'm worried about Eyesoar and everyone else too, but Classic Yo-kai are the best right? They'll be fine. It'd be bad if I got in trouble with Mr. Johnson."

Hearing that made Whisper change his tune. "You're absolutely right, Katie! I should have more faith in the great Classic Yo-kai!"

Katie smiled and nodded.

"Right. We'll be fine." Assured Pittapatt. "You guys hurry back to your camping group."

"Okay. Please be careful everyone." Katie pleaded. "Whisper, Blazion, let's go!"

"Blaze!"

"Whis~!"

Katie and her Yo-kai friends quickly left the abandoned house and dashed into the forest.

"Alright Classic Yo-kai, let's move out!" commanded Pittapatt.

"Right!" they all shouted in unison.

As everyone began to leave, Eyesoar tried to reach out for them but fell to the ground as if he was out of breath. Sebastian raised his eyebrow and floated over to Eyesoar with a stethoscope and put the resonator over one of the eyes on his body. "Oh dear. His heartbeat is rather slow. I don't believe he's getting the proper oxygen he needs without his hundredth eye. I dare say his airflow might be trapped."

"Dat's definitely no good. Dey gotta hurry den." Master Oden fretted as he rubbed his chin. "Say, do you have a feeling dat we're forgetting somedin?"

"Hmm?"

"Shebashtian, another round pleashe."

They both looked behind them to see Lady Longnek passed out on the ground while drooling. After sweat drops appeared on their heads, Sebastian pulled out his cellphone and said: "…I'll call her a taxi."


	28. Chapter 7: The Search

The smell of charcoal and various seasonings lingered in the air as the barbecue pit's flames died down back at the campsite. While Chelsea and Megan were washing the dishes, with the former groaning and sighing the entire time as it turned out to be more work than she anticipated, everyone else had begun toasting their marshmallows over the campfire for the s'mores.

"Oh man, this is gonna be great!" Bear smiled while drooling. "If there's anything more exciting than barbecue it's dessert!"

"Just don't leave your marshmallow over the fire too long like you did the last three times." Warned Eddie.

"Yeah, wasting food like that is pretty uncool." Alex chastised.

"Oh back off!" Bear retorted. "I like my marshmallows extra toasty, okay?"

"Do you like them with dirt and grass too? 'Cuz that's what they ended up getting on them when they melted onto the ground." Alex teased, playfully sticking her tongue out.

Bear irritably groaned and mumbled: "I bet yours won't come out any better."

Mr. Johnson walked by them and asked: "Excuse me, but have any of you seen Forester?"

"Here I am!" Katie shouted running up to them then stopping to catch her breath.

Before she could say anything else, Mr. Johnson put his hands on his hips and angrily asked: "Where have you been!? Don't you know it's dangerous to go off on your own!?"

Katie and her Yo-kai friends flinched upon hearing her teacher's rare irate tone with her.

Alex tugged on Mr. Johnson's shirt to get his attention and put her hand on the side of her mouth signaling him to lean over so she could whisper into his ear. "Restroom."

"Eh?" Mr. Johnson blushed and cleared his throat. "I see. Well that's fine but just tell me next time, okay? No need to sneak off like that. After all, even outside the classroom the same rules apply."

"Uh, sure." Katie replied. She glanced at Alex who responded with a friendly wink. She scratched her head and asked herself: "What did she tell him?"

"Well in any case, I guess it does pay to have a predator's nose, Blazion." Whisper complimented. "Being able to smell meat from far away is a pretty impressive skill and made getting back here a breeze."

"Blaze blaze. (You're welcome.)" He replied while nodding.

Whisper crossed his arms and smiled with his eyes closed before saying: "Of course even if you weren't here, my amazing sense of direction would have gotten Katie and I back no problem."

Katie chuckled, causing Whisper to open his eyes and give her a suspicious look.

"Whis? What's so funny?"

"It's just that you don't have your Yo-kai Pad to give you directions so I couldn't see that happening."

An anger vein appeared on the side of Whisper's head after hearing that. Trying to keep his cool, he turned away from her with half of a grin on his face and replied with: "Y'know I've been through this forest many times in my own dimensiverse so I think I would know how to navigate it without the use of technology."

"Blaze blaze. (Katie's right.) Blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze, blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze. (If you had led the way instead of me, we'd be at the bottom of a gorge right now.)" Blazion proudly boasted with his arms behind his head.

More anger veins appeared around Whisper's head as Blazion talked and his grin disappeared completely. "I'm telling you I don't need the Yo-kai Pad's GPS to navigate through this place."

"Blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze blaze. (Lord Enma will pull your tongue out for lying like that y'know.)"

"IT'S NOT A LIE! I KNOW MY WAY AROUND THIS STINKIN' FOREST, OKAY!?" Whisper snapped as he suddenly grew flared nostrils and his eyes bulged out of their sockets.

Katie shrugged. "Whatever you say."

—

At Catfish Pond, Kappa and Pallysol were patrolling from the water and the sky for signs of Kunekune. After a few seconds in the air, Pallysol descends onto the ground.

"Darn it. That's the third time I've landed." He grumbled. "The wind is just too calm for me to maintain a proper altitude tonight." He then looks in Kappa's direction to see him frantically and noisily swimming around and under the pond. "Hey what are you doing!?" He shouted at him. "The legend doesn't say anything about Kunekune living underwater!"

Kappa stopped and shouted back with: "Yeah I know but I swear I just saw another legend a minute ago! The giant huchen!"

"The what!?"

"An extremely rare fish that's said to only come out when it rains at Catfish Pond! Catching one when the weather is clear like this would be bodacious! Now stop yelling or you'll scare it off!" Kappa quickly dived back underwater.

"Hey! Get back up here you idiot!" Pallysol let out an annoyed sigh. "All that talk about wanting to beat up Kunekune and the only thing on that meathead's mind is fishing. _Hmph_!"

He then bent his leg forward in a squatting position. "Alright, big jump this time." He took a huge leap into the air, opened himself up at the peak of his jump, and began to float around again while looking at the ground. "Feh. Still nothing. Hmm?" He noticed something unusual near the edge of the pond and started to descend to get a clearer look at it.

"Is that… Master Baddinyan!? I haven't seen him since he took me, Boyclops, and Lady Longnek to the Next HarMEOWny concert a month ago using fake tickets! And we got away with it too!" Pallysol started waving both of his arms in the air. "Yoo-hoo! Master Baddinyan! Up here! It's me, Pallysol!" He landed near him and saw that his outfit was tattered, he had several scratches and bruises across his face, his paw was swollen and blood red from a splinter that was stuck in it, and he could barely stand up straight as he struggled to stay on his feet.

"Master Baddinyan! What happened to you!? You're a mess!" After analyzing Baddinyan for a few seconds, Pallysol slapped his forehead. "Ah, but of course! You must have been here in the forest practicing your cheering for the next Next HarMEOWny concert. I always imagined your training regimen was intense and looks like I was right! Still, let me at least get that awful splinter out of your paw!"

He pulled out a roll of duct tape from behind his back. "I hear that duct tape is the most efficient way to remove splinters and luckily I always keep a roll on hand in case my canopy gets damaged while I'm out." He put a small strip over Baddinyan's paw. "This might hurt a little but at least the pain will be temporary compared to what you've been feeling up until now." He quickly ripped the strip off causing Baddinyan to flick his wrist in pain.

Pallysol looked at the tape to see that the splinter came right out, along with some fur. "See? I told you! This stuff is some kind of miracle worker! And you didn't even as much as yelp when I ripped it off you! I'd expect nothing less from the great mast-OW!" He exclaimed after getting sucker punched in the eye. "Okay I probably should've expected _that_."

"Yo, Pally!" shouted Kappa as he walked in their direction, holding a large fish. "Well unfortunately this dude isn't a giant huchen but a giant catfish, in which case he'd sure make a great meal! Oh hey, who's this?"

Pallysol groaned in pain as he rubbed his eye. "This is the great Master Baddinyan. The one I told you about a while back."

"Ah, so you're the famous 'Next HarMEOWny Guru' Pally and his pals talk about so much, eh? Nice to meet'cha. The name's Kappa. I'd shake your hand but as you can see mine are kinda full here, heh."

Baddinyan looked in Kappa's direction but didn't say anything.

"Hey, you alright man?"

Pallysol opened his eye again. "Oh don't worry. He just finished a hardcore cheer training session and is probably just exhausted."

Kappa raised his eyebrow. "I dunno Pally, something seems off about him aside from all the battle damage."

Pallysol rubbed his chin. "You're right come to think of it. He hasn't said a word the whole time." His eye widened after thinking about a possible explanation for Baddinyan's silence. "Wait, don't tell me." He removed Baddinyan's sunglasses to reveal that his eyes and facial features were gone. "Oh no!"

Kappa dropped his catfish out of shock. "Him too!?"

"This isn't good! I have to get him to safety!"

"Don't bother." A voice from behind them said. "Soon you'll share his fate."

Pallysol's entire body froze up in fear as sweat started to run down his leg. "N-No way. Th-th-that voice. D-Do my ears deceive me?" He couldn't bring himself to turn around or move at all. The sheer disbelief he was feeling made it difficult to think clearly.

Kappa on the other hand felt nothing but rage and fury building up inside him. He clenched his fist and quickly turned around to deliver a massive blow to whatever was behind him. "TRAITOR!"

"Kappa no!" shouted Pallysol as he turned around to stop him.

—

In the Jumbo Slider area, Furdinand was using his power of hair growth to extend his arm into the bottom slot of a vending machine to snag a rice ball without paying.

"Almost got it…" he grunted as he tried to wiggle the treat out of its slot. "Success!"

As he carefully removed it from out of the vending machine, Tublappa ran up behind him laughing with glee. " _Hee hee_! That thlide ith tho much phun!"

"Oh, you're back already?"

"Yeah! Getting back up here ith getting eathier! Onthe again I didn't thee Kunekune on the way down or at the bottom tho I'm about to go phor another thlide! How about you? Phind anything in the rethtroom?"

Furdinand nervously unwrapped his snack. "Err… No."

"What about near the riverth?"

Furdinand popped the whole rice ball in his mouth and put his arms behind his head. "No."

"Around the baby thlide? On the bridge? The mountain trailth?" Tublappa's eyes widened a bit. "Wait, don't tell me you've been in thith one thpot the whole time."

"What makes you say that?" Furdinand asked with his mouth full.

"Come on Phurdinand, don't you wanna thave Eyethoar?"

Furdinand swallowed his food. "Oph courthe- I mean _of course_ I do but this place is just so dirty, and you know how much I hate unfiltered water! And I thought filthy restrooms were _your_ thing! I refuse to set foot in there! You must understand all of this is not good for my sensitive hair!"

"Philthy _bath_ roomth are my 'thing.' Not _reth_ troomth. Thtill, Kunekune doethn't really thound like the kind oph thpectre to haunt rethtroomth, there'th really nowhere phor it to hide around the baby thlide, and each time I've been down the jumbo thlide I haven't notithed anything unusual in the other areath I mentioned. Hey! How about you thlide with me thith time? We'd have double the coverage that way and can look in all directionth!

"Me slide down a structure that's been besmirched by many a bottom for Enma knows how long after just getting my hair done? Are you deranged dear boy?"

"Oh come on you big primadonna! Eyethoar'th counting on uth! Jutht ride on top oph my head iph you're tho worried about getting dirty!"

Furdinand noticed roaches and spiders crawling around in Tublappa's hair after he said that. "Eugh. Uh actually, I have a better idea. No peeking." He pulled a large sleeping bonnet from behind his back, stepped into it, and then pulled it up around his body. "Ready!"

Tublappa looked at him with perplexity. "Gotta thay, that'th the phirtht time I've theen one oph thothe thingth uthed like that."

"You'd be surprised at how versatile a sleeping bonnet can be, my boy. This is just one of many functions I've recently discovered for it."

"Cool, I gueth. Anyway, let'th go!" They both make their way up the stairs to the top of the slide. Tublappa then hops into his bucket as if it were a teacups ride at the amusement park causing Furdinand to shudder in disgust. He knows where that thing has been. Tublappa then pushes himself forward and begins sliding down. "Latht one down'th a rotten egg!"

"But you went before me so of course I'd be the last one down!" Furdinand shouted as he began to slide too, albeit slower than Tublappa whose bucket slid down faster.

"Woohoo! Thith ith more phun than a rollercoathter! The thrill oph reckleth abandonment! The wind in your hair!" Tublappa cheered as he let his tongue blow in the wind, causing the saliva from it to fly into Furdinand's face.

"Oh yuck! _Puh puh_!" He sputtered. "I knew this was a terrible idea!" He hid his entire body in the bonnet to prevent anymore spittle from flying in his face. "Why on earth did Pittapatt pair me up with the likes of you!?"

"Don't let all thith exthitement dithtract you phrom our mission though! Keep your eyeth peeled for anything thrange!" Tublappa instructed as he was scanning the area carefully. "Nothing unusual on the path up the mountain again! River thtill lookth clear! Nothing on the bridge! Thee anything back there!?"

" _Boohoo_ … It's going to take weeks to get this horrible smell out of my hair!" Furdinand whined.

Soon they were headed towards a portion of the slide that had its side destroyed. "Sharp turn coming up!" Tublappa leaned in the opposite direction of the curve so his bucket didn't fly off.

"Sharp what!?" Furdinand stuck his head out of the bonnet and saw that he was about to fly off the broken side of the slide into a puddle of mud. "Oh no!" He used his power to increase his volume so the extra weight would let him slide away from the edge in time. " _Phew_. That was a close one." He sighed, returning to his normal size.

Eventually they both were nearing the end of the slide. "Thith ith it, Phurdinand! Get ready to phall!"

Furdinand hid in his bonnet again and prayed: "Please don't let there be any mud puddles at the bottom!"

Tublappa flew off the slide and tumbled onto the ground with his bucket landing on top of his head. "Ha ha! That wath even better the phourth time!" He lifted the bucket off his head a bit and saw a pair of sandals in front of him. "Hey!" He then looked up at the wearer and said: "It'th y-"

Furdinand landed shortly after and popped out of the bonnet. " _Phew_! All dry down here!" He then looked in Tublappa's direction. "Oh, why hel-"

—

In front of the shrine, Boyclops was sitting on top of the offering box staring at the ground with his chin resting on his hands and his elbows on his knees while kicking his feet back and forth.

Pittapatt ran up the stairs leading to the shrine while panting and sweating. " _Huff huff,_ I think, _huff,_ it's time for a break." He exhaled before plopping on the ground. " _Phew_. I'm guessing you didn't find anything, huh?"

"Nope." Boyclops replied, without even looking up.

"Hey, don't get discouraged. Eyesoar's gonna be alright. If we can't find Kunekune then I know Katie can when she comes back."

"It's not that. It's… Well… I can't be 100% certain but I think I have an idea of what's really going on."

"What do you mean?"

"You know how the legend says that Kunekune has no facial features, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, you know who else doesn't have facial features?"

"Hmm." Pittapatt's eye widened after realizing who Boyclops could be referring to. "Wait, you're not thinking…? There's no way it could possibly be… I mean he can't even do that with his power. Right?"

"I don't want to believe it either but seeing as how everyone at the party has learned something new, regardless of how mundane it may be, it's not out of the realm of possibility."

"But even if that were the case, why would he do such a thing? And to his own friend even?"

"I dunno. Why don't we ask him ourselves?" Boyclops looked up in Pittapatt's direction. "Hello, Faysoff."


End file.
